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contents
07 Publishers note 08 Insurance myths 11 Meet Tim Herriage 13 Its a sellers market 14 What are tax liens? 16 Photo tips for investors 18 Mikes mobile home parks 19 Tips for snail mail success 20 Sound advice on leverage 22 A&Es Flipping Boston 24 Notes with Scott Carson 25 Tips on rental management 27 Questioning convention 31 Profile of Equity Trust 35 Insights by Tony Martinez 36 Senseis entrepreneurial life 40 The 401(K) sinking hole 42 Coast to Coast REIA 44 A secure investment? 46 Nick Vertucci always wins 48 Market selection advice 50 Q&A with IPX/AZ 52 The power of direction 54 Benefits for investors 56 Find your partners
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www.nreinsurance.com
888-741-8454
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I changed one thing one time and left the rat race forever. I can show you how I did it,
Real Estate Investor Founder of EpicProAcademy.com and CashflowSavvy.com Host of the Epic Real Estate Investing Podcast on iTunes
Matt Theriault
lindas note
by Linda Pliagas, publisher, investor, agent lately? No thanks, Id rather comfortably kick back at home and click for my deals. Do you think distressed properties and motivated sellers do not exist on the MLS? Wrong! I found my three recent rehab deals on the MLS. Thats three single-family properties in distress with nearly $100,000 in equity in each one. Ive also found my properties out of state on the MLS boards of their respective cities. Ive purchased rentals in five states, all found on the MLS at no cost to me. The MLS has all sorts of distressed deals: REOs, short sales, probates, trustee sales, corporate-owned properties, as well as motivated sellers. Personally, I think the public Multiple Listing Service is the most under utilized and under valued investor tool that exists today and its free! Most investors simply dont use or dont even know how to gain access to their local MLS. Think of the MLS as our industrys library of knowledge that holds valuable treasures, much like the real thing. (Our own public libraries are also greatly under utilized coincidence?) The MLS in Los Angeles, www.themls.com, not only provides guests with a listing of current properties, but it also has access to what is pending, on backup, and what just sold. Its an invaluable resource! Some investors mistakenly think that
Continued on pg. 62
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DEBUNKED
13 Insurance Myths for RE Investors
by Stephanie B. Mojica
eople tend to focus more on making fast cash with real estate investments and as a result often do not properly insure their assets. Beginning investors are especially prone to treating insurance as an option rather than an essential part of their business plan, says Tim Norris, President of the National Real Estate Insurance Group (NREIG), which is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Most of us consider insurance as a purchasing endeavor. That is, we either buy it, or it is sold to us. Therein, in my opinion, is the foundational fault
of the process. The misconception is still prevalentinsurance is mysterious, difficult to understand, and, at best we hope we can trust the person that is selling it to us, Norris says. Norris, who is also a board member of the non-profit National Real Estate Investors Association, has garnered plenty of respect for his authorship of the PowerPoint presentation 13 Myths for the Real Estate Investor. To create the document, Norris utilized more than 20 years of experience working closely with real estate investors to properly insure their assets. Even if people do not ultimately purchase a policy through his company, Norris hopes his advice will still help them protect their
investments. Norris 13 myths are as follows: 1. Insurance is exclusive of estate, tax, and financial planning. 2. Being named as an additional insured on the existing homeowner policy will sufficiently protect my interests in a subject-to and/or lease-option deal 3. Buying a property in your personal name and using your homeowners policy liability is fine 4. The personal dwelling fire policy is sufficient to cover my non-owner occupied rental 5. I have a personal umbrella policy (PUL), so I dont need commercial insurance
Continued on pg. 55
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Tim Herriage
by Stephanie B. Mojica
The last thing they want to do is sit through a weekend of sales pitches. Flip This House A&E star David Montelongo was just one of the speakers at the 2012 REI Expo. When asked about his impressions of the expo Montelongo said, This group was more on the experienced side. They had good flow, communication and energy. I did some good business and will be back. Model My Home President Jana Uselton spoke on staging homes to attract buyers. She and her team wrote up thousands of dollars in orders at the expo itself and said many more investors committed to work with her. We didnt have to do any selling. Once they saw the hard numbers of the results sellers are getting by staging homes it became a no-brainer for them, Uselton said. Out of all the seminars, trade shows and expos we have attended, sponsored or exhibited, this was the absolute best event we have ever done. At press time, the date for the 2013 REI Expo in Chicago was imminent. Herriage hopes to duplicate the educational value at not only the 2013 event, but also future
PAGE 11 2013
REI conferences. Herriage, often lauded as one of the most successful investors and wholesalers in the real estate market, is president of Herriage Homes as well as a National Development Agent for HomeVestors. HomeVestors, also known as We Buy Ugly Houses, has purchased more
I got my quick start in this business by meeting people that were willing to help me, and I try to do the same.
than 50,000 American houses since the companys birth in 1989. Herriage, who is married and has two sons, regularly gives public talks about his experience as a successful real estate entrepreneur who also has a happy family life. I enjoy meeting new people and traveling, Herriage said. I got my quick start in this business by meeting people who were willing to help me, and I try to do the same. Whether Herriage is speaking to a roomful of people or an individual, he hopes the one message they take away from their time together is that Herriage has a mission to tell only the truth. I love buying houses, but hate the
Continued on pg. 30
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market update
by Kathy Fettke
Market cycles can change on a dime. Here we are in the second quarter of 2013, and todays news is all about the terrible LACK of housing inventory, multiple offers over asking price, and people waiting in lines when a property is released to the public. We are back in a sellers market. A sellers market is good for sellers because theres a lot of buyers competing for limited inventory. High demand and low supply allows the seller to negotiate, so prices tend to go up. We are seeing price increases as much as 1-3% per month in markets like Sacramento and Phoenix. What is happening? Where did all those foreclosures and short sales go?
Continued on pg. 61
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C C C
harles Sells doesn't like talking that surround property taxes -- and "In Illinois, what we buy is a tax lien to the property," said Sells. "In we about acquiring real estate for what happens when property owners to the property," Sells. "In 2013, we harles doesn't like navigate the seemingly endless rolls of red harles SellsSells doesn't like talking that surround property taxes -and "In Illinois,said what we buy is2013, a tax lien "pennies the dollar," because it don't pay them. In their effort, they've would be buying 2012 delinquent taxes." about on acquiring real estate for what happens when property owners to the property," said Sells. "In 2013, we would be buying 2012 delinquent taxes." talking about acquiring tape that surround property taxes and sounds too much like a carnivaldiscovered a surprisingly safe investIllinois has a redemption period, two "pennies on the dollar," because it don't pay them. In their effort, they've would be buying 2012 delinquent taxes." Illinois has a redemption period, real estate for "pennies what happens when property owners don't barker, late-night-TV, shady-charment within a shaky market: acquiring and a Illinois half years, which the prop-two sounds too much like a carnivaldiscovered a surprisingly safe investhasduring a redemption period, two and a half years, during which the on the dollar," because it pay them. In their effort, they've discovacter pitch. tax ment liens within and, often, deeds. ertyand owner can "redeem" tax lien barker, late-night-TV, shady-chara shaky market: acquiring a half years, duringtheir which the propproperty owner can their tax soundsof too much like a ered surprisingly safe investment within But Sells, Director by"redeem" paying off tax thelien acter pitch. tax a liens and, often, deeds. erty owner can "redeem" their lienby by paying off thethe carnival-barker, lateAcquisitions forDirector Plati- of back taxes plus inBut Sells, paying off num Investment Propterest; the bid interrate inAcquisitions for Platiback taxes plus back taxes plus night-TV, shady-character erties West, often finds starts at 18%, and itrate num Investment Propterest; the bid est; the bid rate starts at pitch. himself in West, the position canstarts be bid to it erties often of finds at down 18%, and 18%, and it can be bid But Sells, director of offering clients just that of as low But, to himself in the position can as bezero. bid down down to as low as zero. for Platinum --acquisitions although he'd prefer a according to Sells, offering clients just that as low as zero. But, But, according to bid Sells, Investment Properties more accounting of a whatever your -- sober although he'd prefer according to Sells, things. rate is, inyour Illinois it bid more sober accounting of whatever your whatever bid rate West, often finds him"We try to take all the doubles every six things. rate is, in Illinois is, in Illinois it doublesit self in the position of hype "We out of water," months. try the to take all the doubles every six every six months. offering clients just that saidhype Sells. "So if you bought out "We of theoffer water," months. "So if you bought although he'd"We prefer a a said conservative, highit at 15%, you're ac-it Sells. offer "So if you bought at 15%, you're actually more sober accounting of yield that highis tually gaining a net aca opportunity conservative, it at 15%, you're backed government annualized return on gaining a net annualized things. yield by opportunity that is tually gaining a net regulations." a paid-off certificate backed by government annualized return on return on a paid-off certificate of 30%," "We try to take all the hype out of the a shaky market: acquiring tax liens and, It's an opportunity of 30%," said Sells. regulations." a paid-off certificate said Sells. After the redemption period water," said Sells. "We offer a conservaoften, deeds. that just to give clients the After the redemption period ends, if the It's happens an opportunity of 30%," said Sells. ends, if the lien is not paid off, the holder tive, high-yield opportunity that is backed Here'show how it focusing on Sells' chance you know. Sells and the Here's is notthe paid off, the holder of ends, the lien it works, works, focusing on lienAfter that to, justwell, happens to give clients redemption period if the of the you, investor bychance government regulations." favorite markets at moment, Illinois on partner Don Fullman have carved outand -- you, the investor -- the can initiate forecloSells' favorite markets at the focusing moment, to, well, you know. Sells lien islien not paid off, the holder of can the lien Here's how itthe works, initiate foreclosure the property. a respectable corner of this niche mar- out Sells andDon partner Don Fullman have and Georgia: in both states, the process Illinois and Georgia: in both states, the sure the property. partner Fullman have carved --on you, the investoron -- can initiate forecloSells' favorite markets at the moment, ket, and help investors navigate the process can much as asa a process begins when at a tax lien auc- the That a respectable corner corner of thisof niche Illinois andat Georgia: in both states, sure onprocess the property. That cantake take as as much year, carved out a respectable this marbegins when a tax lien auction. seemingly endless rolls of red tape tion. ket, and help investors navigate the That process can take as much as a process begins when at a tax lien aucaccording to Sells, and of course there are niche market, and they help investors "In Illinois, what we buy is a tax lien seemingly endless rolls of red tape tion.
The reason we continue The reason we continue to have our success is to have our success is because our clients because our clients are successful. are successful.
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going to be attorney and court fees, plus year, according Sells, and ofto course any additional backto taxes will need there are going to be attorney and court be year, paid but at theto end of the process, according Sells, and of course fees, plus any additional back taxes will thereacquired are going to be attorney and to court you've clean, clear, quiet title need to be paid -but at the end of the fees, plus any additional back taxes will that property. process, you've acquired clean, clear, need to be paid -- but at the end of the "Now, theto way Georgia works, it's quiet title that property. process, you've acquired clean, clear, what wetitle callthe a premium bid state, where it's "Now, way Georgia works, quiet to that property. what we call a premium bid state, where the penalty is set at 20%," said Sells. "So "Now, the way Georgia works, it's the penalty is set at 20%," said Sells. "So what we call a premium bid state, say we go to a tax sale in Georgia, andwhere say we go to tax in said Georgia, and the penalty is a set at sale 20%," say there's a lien being offered for Sells. sale "So say there's a lien being offered for sale say we go to a tax sale in Georgia, and for $5,000. We could spend as much as as for could spend as much say$5,000. there's We a lien being offered for sale $50,000 on that tax lien, and the underly$50,000 on that lien, and as the underfor $5,000. We tax could spend much as lying property could be worth as as much ing property could be worth as much $50,000 on that tax lien, and the underas $200,000. The homeowner then has to lying property could bethen worth as much $200,000. The homeowner has to pay pay us back 20% on top of the $50,000." $200,000. homeowner then has to us as back 20% on The top of the $50,000." That pencils outon totop a $10,000 penalty pay us back 20% of the $50,000." That pencils out$5,000 to a $10,000 penalty on on top of their tax bill that they That pencils out to a $10,000 penalty top of their $5,000 tax bill that they have have to come up $5,000 with. on top of their tax bill that they "The net payback to have come up with. to come up with. to our investor would bepayback $60,000 "The net toon ourthe investor "The net payback to redemption," our would investor said Sells. "So you're be $60,000 on the redemption," be would $60,000 on the redemption," said Sells. getting a high return, said Sells. "So you're "So you're getting a high return, either on either on the redempgetting a high return, the redemption of the lien tion of the or either on lien the itself, redempin acquiring title to the itself, or in acquiring title tion of the lien itself, or toproperty." theacquiring property."title to the in Holding property." Holding thethe tax tax lien lien is Holding an enviable posithe tax lien is an enviable position; tion; you're in line even is an enviable posiyou're in line before before theeven tion; you're inmortgage line even the mortgage company; company; in fact, acbefore the mortgage to Sells, more incording fact, according to Sells, company; in fact, acoften than his clicording to not Sells, more more often than not his ents find themselves often than not his cliclients find themselves being redeemed by the ents find themselves being redeemed by banks themselves, being redeemed by bethe the banks themselves, cause taxes are escrowed banks themselves, be- as part of most mortgages. ownersas fall behind on because are part of cause taxes taxesWhen areescrowed escrowed as part of most the mortgage, the taxes might not get most mortgages. When owners fall behindon mortgages. When owners fall behind covered. mortgage, the the taxes might onthe the mortgage, taxes might not not get get "The banks have to redeem us out just covered. covered. like the banks homeowner would," Sells. "The have to redeemsaid us out just "Thehave banks haveto toforeclose redeem us out just "We rights on the mortlike the homeowner would," said Sells. gage as wesaid do the homelike thecompanies homeowner would," Sells. "We have rights just to foreclose on the mortowner; it's a pretty safe spot to be in." "We have rights to foreclose on the mortgage companies just as we do the homeClearly a strategy Platinum Inowner; it'sit's a pretty safe tohomebe in." gage companies just as we spot do the Clearly it's a strategy Platinum Inowner; it's a pretty safe spot to be in."
Clearly it's a strategy Platinum Investvestment Properties West ment Properties West has seen has sucseen success with; according cess with; according to Sells, vestment Properties West despite has to Sells, despite a lot of talk of success with; according a seen lot of talk of declining inventories declining inventories delinto Sells, despite a lot of of talk of of delinquent properties, they're quent properties, they're busier declining inventories of delinbusier than ever. than ever. quent properties, they're busier "Our company has doubled in "Our company has doubled than ever. in size every year for the last size every year for the last six "Our company has doubled six years," said Sells. "This in size every year for year the last years," said Sells. "This we year we performed higher six years," saidthan Sells. performed higher we "This ever than have inhigher past year we we ever performed have in There's past years. There's still years. still plenty of than we ever have in past plenty of inventory out there for inventory out there for us, years. There's still plenty of because I Iout think there's a us, because there's lot inventory there fora us, lot that hasn't still hasn't toa because I think there's that still come come to market market There are more lotThere thatyet. still hasn't come to yet. are more investment investment opportunities market yet. There are more opportunities than there cash than there is cash to is put investment opportunities to putthem." into them." into than there is cash to put Sells said his clients Sells said his clients are look- Dona into them." ld Fullman are looking for longer-term ing for longer-term Sells said hisinvestments clients Donald Full man are high looking longer-term with yieldsfor -- he estimates 40% of their investors are self-
There are more investment There are more investment opportunities than there is opportunities than there is cash to put into them. cash to put into them.
investments with high yields -- he estimates 40% theirhigh investors are directed IRA of clients and they know investments with yields -- self-dihe that estirected IRA clients -and they know that mates of their investors are self-dithese are40% not particularly liquid investthese are not particularly liquid investrected clients -- and they know that ments to IRA get into. ments to get into. these are not particularly liquid invest"Now, with anan agent like us, do we have "Now, ments to with get into. agent like us, do we more opportunity to make it make liquid it than have morewith opportunity to liquid "Now, an agent like us, do we than someone who just shows up and someone who just shows up and buys have more opportunity to make it liquid buys these tax liens?" asked Sells. up "Sure, these liens?" asked "Sure, of thantax someone who Sells. just shows and of course. But we still pushSells. on all our buys these tax liens?" asked "Sure, course. But we still push on all our clients of this course. But we still push onget all our that is a long-term hold; you'll
clients that this is a long-term hold; you'll clients that this is a redemption checks get redemption checks long-term hold; you'll immediately upon inimmediately upon get redemption checks vestment, but don't eximmediately upon ininvestment, but don't pect that you're going vestment, but don't exexpect that you're goto flipthat all this stuff out pect going ingyear's to flipyou're all this stuff in time and do toaflip all this stuff out out a year's time it again." in a in year's time and do Sells admits and do it again."it's a it again." challenging market, Sells admits it's a a Sells admits it's and that there's a lot challenging market, challenging market, of road the and thatbetween there'sa a lot and that there's lot initial investment and of road between the of return. road between the the initial investment and "And there certainly was a learning curve initial investment the return. when I got started in '96," he "But and the return. "And there was a "And there certainly wascertainly alaughed. learning curve I think we're the best in the business that ofwhen I got started in I '96," he laughed. "But learning curve when got started in '96," fers thiswe're type the of opportunity now. And the I think in the business that ofhe laughed. "Butbest I think we're the best in reason we continue to have our success is fers this type of opportunity now. And the the business that offers this type of opporbecause our clients are successful." reason we continue to have our success is tunity And the are reason we continue to For now. more information, visit Sells and because our clients successful." Platinum Investment Properties West on have our success is because our clients are For more information, visit Sells and the web at Investment http://www.pipwest.com Platinum Properties West on successful." the web at http://www.pipwest.com Contact PIP-West at: 877-335-2529 or visit online @ www.PIPWest.com
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investor tools
works best when you are perpendicular to the angle of the sun or rays. The improvement in the picture is dramatic. External Flash ($50-$200). The built in flash is minimally acceptable, however, an external flash (attaches to the metal piece on top of the DSLR called a hot shoe) helps to fill in the shadows at the side of the scene taken with a wide angle, can fill a deeper great room with light more fully and evenly, and can be aimed up so that you dont get harsh reflections from the bathroom mirror and other reflective surfaces. Composition Views. First of all, pretend you are the buyer. What would you want to see in addition to the typical pictures? The neighbors homes, the street, the back yard, the local park, the development entrance, etc? Then include them in your portfolio of pictures! Consider framing some shots with a tree or doorway, use a step ladder for an elevated view, shoot the living room from the stairs, and include artistic detail features such as a nice carriage light, flowers, garden arch, or fireplace.
A Wide Angle Zoom Lens. (can be purchased with the camera or alone for about No Dirty Laundry. $200). The lens should be at least 18mm Put away or shoot around minimum (or 28mm equivalent to the old the trash cans, close the 35mm film cameras). Wider is even better toilet seat, cut the grass, but 18mm is acceptable. It should zoom Equipment List request or pay the resident to at least 50mm. Most starter DSLRs come with to straighten up before you DSLR $300-900 arrive, angle your shot to this lens as the defacto standard, so they are readily Wide Angle Zoom Lens $200 exclude the power pole, the available. Polarizer $20-50 dead bush, etc. Ninety five percent of point and shoots simply do External Flash $50-200 not have a sufficiently wide a lens to show all of a Total Investment: ~$700-1,000 room. Period. Wide angle is the only substitute for Lighting. Time your exteAmortized over 50 houses: $20/house rior pictures with the sun when it is impossible or not practical to get farther back. I am flabbergasted at the number of ad photos and weather. Dont shoot that only show the toilet and a corner of the tub, or an East facing home in the the nice family room with fireplace but dont let you see that afternoon; go in the morning on a nice day when the front view it is attached to the kitchen for a wonderful Great Room. A is lit up. On the interior, go in the daytime, open the windows, wide angle lens solves this problem. turn on all of the lights, use your external flash and angle it to get more diffusion. You want the scene to look warm and lived in. Polarizer ($20-$50 at any camera store; the cheap one is just fine). A polarizing filter attaches to the front of the lens Staging. If the house is occupied get a stager to recommend and is used to cut glare and reflections. I rarely take a picture what to change and remove. If the house it empty, get it staged at that includes sky, water or through a window without a polarleast with accessories if not furniture. As a minimum, take along izer. The front element rotates until you see that the picture a bag of small accessories to stage the kitchen and baths just for has the least glare, and best contrast and saturation of color. It the shots. I stage almost all of my homes for owner occupant
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Exterior Poor
Exterior better
sales. Some agents tell me not to do it because most others in that market do not. Perfect. I always want my product to look and be better that my competition. Using these techniques, you can take better marketing pictures than your competition that will make a big difference in your advertising to entice a prospect to take the next step. If you elect to farm it out to a professional you now know what to look for and what questions to ask. May your next pictures look like you could sell a thousand homes. Tom Wilson is a thirty-seven year real estate veteran who has executed over $100M and 1,800 units of real estate investments. After thirty years of managing some of the Silicon Valleys pioneering technology companies, Mr. Wilson put his business and management experience toward full time investing. One of
INTERIOR Poor
Some people believe Photoshop is the solution to poor photography. This notion was tested with the poor exterior shot. However, it is impossible to digitally reframe a poorly composed photograph, and there is no way to recapture the saturated natural looking sky and lawn without having used a polarized filter in the first place. Conclusion: start with a good photograph and use digital tools for very minor touch ups only.
interior better
his companies, Wilson Investment Properties, offers high-quality, high-cash flow, fully rehabbed, and leased properties to other investors. Mr. Wilson is also a weekly host of the Real Estate 360 Radio program on KDOW 1220 am every Wednesday at 3 pm. Catch the podcasts on iTunes or on his website, www.tomwilsonproperties.com
iscover the lowest-risk, highest-quality residential investment properties in the iscover lowest-risk, highest-quality residential investment properties in the country.the Using sophisticated methodology, the best investment properties are country. Using methodology, best investment properties carefully selected bysophisticated an experienced investor andthe rehabbed beautifully to secureare the carefully selected by an experienced investor and rehabbed beautifully secure best tenants. With competent property management, and instant cash to flow, yourthe best tenants. With competent property management, investment pays worry-free dividends from day one. and instant cash flow, your investment pays worry-free dividends from day one. Highest Cash Flow Lowest Risk Properties & Cities Lowest RiskEquity Properties & Cities Immediate Immediate Equity Quality Newer Brick Homes and Stable Neighborhoods Quality Brick Homes and Stable Neighborhoods Turnkey Newer Clear Title, Rehabbed, Leased, Managed Turnkey Clear Title, Rehabbed, Leased, Managed Home Warranty Home Warranty
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Mention REI Voice Magazine and receive one-year of free Mention REI Voice Magazine andyour receive one-year free Mention Realty411 or reWEALTH and receive 1 of year property management with first purchase. premium home warrantywith with your first purchase. property management your first purchase.
Contact me for a Contact me for a free cash flow analysis. free cash flow analysis.
2) If you have $375,000 to invest and have access to $700,000 $1,000,000 in bank or seller financing, you can buy a distressed 100-space park that is 50-65% occupied, make the necessary repairs, add 10-20 repo homes to fill empty sites, raise rents to market levels, and manage it yourself. Owning one 100-space park and operating it yourself is all you need to make $100k/year! 3) If you dont have any funds yourself, you can start on what I call the 3-Step Plan. Step One is to raise $100K from people you know and buy a distressed (50-65% occupancy) 25-space park for $250,000 or less with 20% down and seller financing. Try to get interest only for the first 12 months. Use the remaining funds after the down payment to spruce up the park (mostly cosmetic repairs) and
Continued on pg. 36
1) If you have $750,000 to invest and dont want to do any work and take minimal risk, you can get a 12-14% annual distribution (plus a 3% to 5% additional annual return through debt pay down and appreciation) investing with a larger operator like myself who works with investors.
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... how do you evaluate the myriad opportunities available to you and get to the top of the class?
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an offer is made to the seller, negotiations completed to a mutually agreed to price. A contract is executed placing the sale in escrow and binding the seller to the agreed to terms. With the property under contract, the next step is to market to our wholesale and retail buyers list. Many of our current investors have placed orders for a particular type of property. Matching the property to an investors need reduces the time required to flip the property out of inventory. Managing the property is straight forward as the entire process from identifying the property, through the acquisition to a wholesale flip averages thirty-three days. Many transactions are completed in about fourteen to twentyone calendar days. Select properties are chosen for rehab at the time of acquisition. A major rehab that includes a new kitchen, updated bathrooms, paint inside and out, tile floors and neighborhood appropriate landscaping typically takes less than four weeks. Rehabbed properties are priced for a quick sale, usually 5% to 15% below the value of other homes in the area. Exit strategies are chosen at acquisition based upon the property value, to fill an order, or the potential for a larger safe return. In this case, a wholesale flip to meet an investors order was determined to be the best course. In order to provide our investors solid returns on their investment, a high velocity of money through each deal is rePAGE 19 2013
by Richard Endrosolan
Real Estate
quired. Based upon pipeline volume of properties and an approximate 60 to 90 days per turn, the investor can expect three to five turns per year on their capital. Right now, the markets most ripe for this strategy are Phoenix, Las Vegas and several California markets. Because our strategy is so successful we, unlike other wholesalers, have more inventory than we, and our network of investors, can handle. Also, unlike most wholesalers, we are true wholesalers who offer properties to our investors at prices which are well below retail, leaving some meat on the table so that our investors take ownership with some equity already in place. And were doing this in rapidly appreciating markets. To reach Richard Edrosolan, CEO and founder of Whiterock Capital, call: 805-766-1130 or email: richard@ whiterockrei.com
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eal estate investors are being bombarded with advice today from every direction and it is sometimes hard to find two pieces of advice that are the same. There are so many options and so many opportunities that becoming confused is a common feeling among investors. Well get ready, because here comes one more piece of advice that may run contrary to what many are advising investors to do today. I happen to have learned my lesson when it comes to leverage and I have a special place for it in my portfolio. Smart real estate investors are learning to use leverage wisely and efficiently to put more money in their pockets. Surprising Investors With Sound Advice In the 4th Quarter of 2012, I made a presentation to a group of investors in Northern California and I surprised many in the room when I made a statement that I did not believe you should buy real estate and leverage it for cash flow. Given that I am a partner in two companies that specialize in helping investors find properties that provide a positive cash flow after leverage, this statement caught much of the audience by surprise. But I followed that sentence with a bit of a clarification. I told the group that there are many ways investors can be fooled or even fool themselves today into thinking that they are making a positive cash flow on their property. I told the group that often, the biggest mistakes investors make, is sacrificing long-term stability for short-term gains. The Bank Wins Every Time When I purchased my first home, I was given one option by the three different finance companies I visited a 30-year
mortgage. The 30-year mortgage has become the staple of real estate investing and even Warren Buffets recent statement about the 30-year mortgage shook the real estate world. What many people fail to recall about Warren Buffets assessment of investing in real estate is that he used the phrase if he could which, is very different than stating this is what I am doing. This is worthy of an article all by itself as different investors and investment companies have taken his short interview and turned into the greatest marketing piece they have ever had. His five minute interview has been used thousands of times already to convince investors that they need to mortgage to the hilt all because Warren Buffet mentioned it in his interview. But they all forget two important points. 1. He is one of the wealthiest men on the earth and can afford as much leverage as he is comfortable taking on. 2. He never says that he is buying single-family homes.
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FLIPPING BOSTON
a chat with Dave & Peter from A&Es TOP Show
by Stephanie B. Mojica
Dave Seymour and Peter Souhleris of the Boston area loved flipping commercial and residential properties long before they were offered the A&E television show Flipping Boston, which both entertains and educates audiences about the hard work and great financial rewards of real estate investing.
Seymour and Souhleris, owners of CityLight Homes in Peabody, Mass. in the North Shore area of Boston, have flipped houses and taught others how to flip properties for more than 18 years. Unlike some real estate entrepreneurs, the duo places a special focus on refurbishing the properties in which they choose to invest. From conventional real estate brokerage services through to our innovative, creative and effective out of the box home buying and selling solutions, were dedicated to one thing making the sale, Souhleris said. In Souhleris and Seymours book The Flipping Formula, their innovative approach to monetizing residential and commercial properties is spelled out in terms even newcomers can grasp. Every day especially in Boston people drive by what could become tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in their pockets, Seymour said. Ignorance of the basics of selecting, purchasing, refurbishing, and reselling a home or quality commercial property is all too common among even otherwise welleducated people, the pair noted.
Continued on pg. 62
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cott Carson has a message for anyone whos on the fence about investing in bank notes: If youre not in notes, youre going to wish you were 6 to 12 months from now. Buying and selling those mortgages, either individually or in pools, is the bread and butter of Carsons Inverse Investments
point. And over time, we built a name for ourselves as the people who were closing deals. That reputation has grown exponentially since Inverse Investments first dipped its toes in the water; Carson and his team have garnered mention in print giants like Investors Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal, and Carson himself was asked to speak at the National Association of Realtors conference in 2010. After that, things really took off; Carson said its in no small part
take a fraction of whats owed right now, and get that, versus waiting for years and then having to sell it as an REO as well, said Carson. So theyd let this property go for $100,000 to an investor. Thats a phenomenal deal. So the bank wins, the investor gets a great deal, and the mortgagee suddenly has a note holder who can work more creatively than any bank ever could. The investor can do either a loan modification, said Carson, or get a deedin-lieu from the homeowner and let the homeowner walk. All this, Carson points out, potentially without a deficiency judgment, bankruptcy, foreclosure or even any late pay-
a company Carson founded in the middle of the first round of post-boom bank failures. When a lot of banks started going under, I saw an opportunity there, said Carson. I launched my own firm six years ago, when the banks were closing like crazy. The early days were a fever-pitched one-man show, according to Carson, calling 40-50 banks every day, searching the nooks and crannies of the mortgage industry for sub-performing (or non-performing) loans the holders would be willing to sell for less than the market value of the property. But it paid off; Inverse Investments is one of the best-positioned boutique firms in the secondary note market, with a reputation and record thats hard to match. Those days helped us build up our database from then going forward, said Carson. We had success buying one-offs and small pools, doing what others were talking about doing but not too many were actually doing at that
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ments on the homeowners credit. Its an attractive solution to a lot of players. You have HUD and FHA announcing they expect to sell more notes over the next year than REOs because theres such a glut of inventory, said Carson. And theyve created an investor match program, because they know investors have much more opportunity for creative solutions for borrowers than they can offer. Carson calls it the perfect storm for investors in the note business. The banks that were saying no just a few years ago are now saying yes today, said Carson. I hear it every day, Can you give us a bid? or Can you give us an idea what you might buy this for? Theyve definitely
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reWEALTHmag.com reWEALTHmag.
management
1 2
3 4
Seek multiple referrals from other successful real estate investors. Success leaves clues, and a referral from a trusted and prosperous source is more than a clue, its evidence. Adopt the mindset of Slow-To-Hire-Quick-To-Fire. Regardless of how many positive answers you get from a property manager during the interview process, sometimes the only way to find a good one is to give them a trial run. If you notice a pattern of actions that conflict with their promises during the interview, cut em loose. This is your livelihood, you are not obligated to someone who doesnt fit your needs. Interview more than one. No matter how much you like the first property manager you meet, keep interviewing. Not only do multiple interviews increase the likelihood of finding a great property manager, you will learn a ton about the projected performance of your properties and the market. Test their customer service. Intentionally end your interviews with a few unanswered questions. Call back after hours and leave a message. Note how and when your call is returned. When they (if they) return your call, use the unanswered interview questions as a basis for your conversation. Ideally, you want your call returned within 24 hours in a professional and courteous way. Placing a call during business hours can also give you an indication of the companys professionalism and accessibility. Hire investors. This tip applies to your entire team as well as your property manager. Although its is not essential that your property manager be an investor, I have found the communication and understanding of each other is MUCH better when they are an investor too.
10
Watching investors place limitations on their investing due to a few bad long-distance experiences saddens me because it is unnecessary. So, from this point forward, know that the secret to cash flow real estate investing is not shortening the distance you live from your investments. The secret lies in selecting great property management, and now you have some real world tips to help you do it successfully.
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NORADA
Marco Santarelli, CEO of
Questioning Convention
A
{ Transforming the Way We Invest in Real Estate }
Santarelli has made something of a name for himself questioning conventional thinking in the real estate market. For example, most agents tend to sell properties within their local area, or focus on becoming experts in a single market. Its yet another heres how things usually work scenario Santarelli asked why? about. While Norada is based in California, the company isnt tied to this region quite the opposite, in fact. Santarelli says he is market agnostic and has always viewed real estate in terms of, live where you want, and invest where it makes sense. The result, he said, is an agile and adaptive company. Were not locked into a specific area, said Santarelli. We dont care which city a property is in, as long as it makes sense from an investment perspective. According to Santarelli, companies that are fixed to a specific market might have a lot of product, but its all in one basket. If that market ever turns, theres nothing they can offer. Santarellis high level approach to finding investment properties lets him focus on the fundamentals, not the fads. I start with the metro area, he said. I look at the local economy: unemployment, job growth, diversity of employment, population growth. Do we have a lot of foreclosures? Are there a lot of distressed properties? Is there a high level of inventory? Are prices declining, level, or increasing? If it looks like a city has growth and jobs, and that the housing market is stabilized or on the upswing, then before even looking at a specific property, Santarelli
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by Robb Magley
nyone whos ever even considered investing in rental properties knows one thing is never guaranteed: having a paying tenant. One real estate entrepreneur asked himself, WHY? Its a question Norada Real Estate Investments Marco Santarelli loves to ask, and its served him well. Its the most important question for so many things, said Santarelli. Why is this property a good investment? Why does this market have potential? Or, in this case, why not offer investors a rent guarantee? So he did. As far as I know, were the only multi-market turnkey provider that offers a rent guarantee on everything we sell, said Santarelli. If a tenant for whatever reason never moves in, or for some reason has to move out, the investor is covered. Santarelli said Norada has offered a 90-day rent guarantee for some time. Weve never had to use it, he laughs. But still, we said How can you take a good thing and make it better? The answer came from additional talks with insurance underwriters: Norada Real Estate is rolling out a jaw-dropping one-year rent guarantee this year. Santarelli said hes working with the insurers market-by-market, and currently about two-thirds of their offerings are already under the new one-year policy. Hopefully well be offering one-year rent guarantees on every property we sell by the middle of the year, he said. No one else is doing that.
said youve minimized a lot of the investing risk. But I like to look at the forest, not just the trees, he added. Something can look like a buyers market, but it could be that there are underlying problems. If people dont have jobs, the demand disappears; if the demand disappears, prices come down, and you have increased vacancies. Santarelli uses Detroit as an example of scratching a buyers market to uncover trouble. A lot of investors look at just the property, they say Wow, this is a great property! Its in good condition, its got great cash flow. And Ill say, Oh, by the way, its in the middle of a war zone in Detroit. You have to consider the market, and the neighborhood, not just the property. When it comes to properties, Norada is quite specific in what they present to investors: no commercial property, no industrial, no apartment buildings or large complexes. The only segment they offer is 1- to 4-unit residential rental property that is genuinely turnkey. And they really mean turnkey. Turnkey means, in its simplest form, theres nothing you need to do but close, said Santarellli. You can just walk in and start collecting a rent check the next month. The properties Norada offers are all either new construction or newly rehabbed; theyre all leased, or are in the process of being leased (in the case of a property in the rehab process, where a tenant simply hasnt moved in yet). And, significantly, theyre all cash flow positive. Santarelli
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thinks most agents are missing the boat when they dont emphasize the importance of positive cash flow as being part of qualifying a property as turnkey. We dont want to touch a property unless it produces a measurable rate of return for the investor, said Santarelli. We surveyed our investors, and over 52% of them placed cash flow as their highest priority in what theyre looking for in an investment property. In that same poll, according to Santarelli, appreciation ranked 5th down the list. Investors want to make sure theyre buying a property thats paying for itself. Its all part of what he calls the why of Norada Real Estate: To make wealth creation as easy as possible. The goal was to create a place where investors could shop, invest, and start collecting cash flow, all under one roof or, in Noradas case, practically at one website. Bucking the trend of in-house private data, Santarellis company makes its powerful analytics tools available free online, to anyone whos interested. The Norada website presents its properties by market with exhaustive data and detail about those markets. We put it all on the website so investors can do much of their due diligence right there, said Santarelli. The website software also does price forecasting based on a number of economic models, updated quarterly. Then, theres a green button that says analyze, said Santarelli. If you click on that, it provides a very detailed, customizable cash flow analyzer. Its a proprietary program I had developed just for our website. Santarelli acknowledged that detailed analysis can seem overly complex, and investors eyes can glaze over when presented too much of it. His goal is present it all in a simple way, so investors can get the message of why a particular market is a good one and move on with
SPECIAL REPORT
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PAGE 28 2013
Successful Real Estate Investing Begins with the Right Investment Property!
Norada Real Estate Investments helps take the guesswork out of real estate investing. By researching top real estate growth markets and structuring complete turnkey real estate investments, we help you succeed by minimizing risk and maximizing profitability.
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JasonHartman.com
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fluff some put behind it, he said. It is hard work, but it pays off. Herriage and his team members can help a distressed owner get out of virtually any housing situation. Herriage Homes works with some of the most challenging cases in the industry, including unwanted rentals, properties in need of major repairs, quick sales, short sales, divorce sales, pending foreclosures, and bankruptcy liquidations. It takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to walk through your house and make you a cash offer, Herriage said. My offer is on an as-is basis. This means you do not have to make any repairs, or even clean out the house in some cases. I call it, Take what you want, and leave what you dont. In an average month, Herriage buys five to seven houses. He wholesales more than half of those properties, flips others, and retains some in a rental portfolio. The dramatic spike in people using the Internet for all types of matters has not changed Herriages basic process of buying, fixing, and selling houses. It is still a people business. The best way to make money in this business is to be behind a steering wheel, he said. There are those that teach to sell product, and those that teach to buy and sell more houses. I teach about real world actionable information I obtain weekly by being active in what I teach about. There are few that can claim that. To learn more about Herriage Homes, call 972-755-1880 or visit www.timherriage.com
Questioning Convention, Marco Santarelli, pg. 28
CW 269 SWOT Analysis of Income Property, Facebook IPO & Case Study
that can be adopted by anybody, said Santarellli, and tweaked whether youre buying one property a year, two a year, or one every two years. You can adjust the pace, but if you stick to the plan you can create a lot of wealth and cash flow. It talks about all the advantages of real estate investing appreciation, leverage, financing, tax advantages, and of course the significance of inflation, which Santarelli thinks few investors consider. A lot of people dont think about inflation, and how your monthly mortgage payment is fixed in current dollars, said Santarelli, but with inflation youre making those payments with cheaper and cheaper dollars every year. All of which paints Norada as a forward-thinking, agile analytics-based real estate investment company, unburdened by specific markets, that puts every free tool imaginable in the hands of its investors. To learn more call 800-611-3060 or visit online at: www.NoradaRealEstate.com
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Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and is a registered financial principal. When not working closely with clients or giving workshops across the country about the flexibility and profit potential of self-directed IRAs, Desich is a guest professor at Ohio State Universitys prestigious Max Fisher College of Business. Assisting clients in achieving their financial goals is the greatest value we provide, Desich said. Equity Trust is one of the leading firms in the rapidly growing self-directed IRA market. Despite the economic downturn that began in 2008, IRAs around the world are worth about $5.7 trillion. Equity Trust is the custodian of about $12 billion of retirement
Learn about the history of Equity Trust on the next page >>
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EQUITY
TrUsT
Company founder Richard Desich realized early in his career that investing in real estate and other alternative investments in an IrA could be a valuable retirement savings tool. In 1974 he began Mid-Ohio securities (which later transferred its selfdirected IRA accounts to Equity Trust) and the company's first real estate investment in an IrA took place in 1984.
A Drug Mart store in Ohio becomes the companys first non-traditional asset held within an IRA
Rapidly growing Equity Trust moves into its new 16,000 square-foot facility in Blyria, Ohio
1980s 1970s
1990s
2000s
The IRS approves Mid-Ohio Securities as a non-bank, passive custodian for IRAs
New Equity Trust website created, www.trustetc.com, receives 1 million unique visitors
Inaugural Equity University Networking Conference brings hundreds of selfdirected investors to Orlando, Florida for proven self-directed investment strategies, education and networking
Almost 40 years later, the company and demand for self-directed IrAs continue to grow. Equity Trust is the nation's leading provider of self-directed IrAs and 401(k)s with over 130,000 clients in all 50 states and $12 Billion of retirement fund assets under custody.
Equity Trust Company hits the milestone of $12 billion in assets under administration
Companys South Dakota service and operations center opens - Equity Trust Company now operates from 5 facilities in 4 states
Equity Trust Company opens Denver office and launches Equity Advisor Solutions
2010s
Company acquires Texas-based Sterling Trust, bringing Equity Trusts client to 115,000
Industry first online client portal, myEQUITY launches, giving clients access to 24/7 networking and education Equity Trusts Facebook fan base surpasses 5,000 Ira the bear becomes Equity Trusts official mascot, takes on the task of travelling to spread the word about self-directed IRAs
When you buy within a system, you benefit from strength in numbers! - Nick Vertucci
Our team does a complete rehab of every property we purchase. We save on constuction costs because we turn over so many properties. Thats a savings we pass on to you.
MANAGEMENT:
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notes
or Asset Ventures Tony Martinez, the answer is as clear as writing on a wall. Martinez entered the bank note business through his earlier experiences buying and selling real estate in particular, short sales. I negotiated more than 300 short sales through the real estate side, said Martinez, and I was looking for a better way. And for the past several years, that better way has been investing in notes. A mortgage note is a lien against a property, created where someone has borrowed money against it. Its basically an IOU, which states the terms by which the borrower has to pay back the lender, said Martinez. What we do is buy institutional notes that were created by a bank or mortgage company.
The real opportunity began in 2007, according to Martinez, when the market shifted and suddenly those notes were nearly worthless to banks; the unpaid balance stayed in place, but when the loans stopped performing, the banks were in a bind. Millions of dollars worth of notes were no longer of any value to the banks, said Martinez. Remember, they used the value of those notes in order to borrow money to lend and make their money, and now they had nowhere to go with all this collateral. Imagine youre a bank, said Martinez, and you have 1,000 notes, and every one is performing. Youre sitting in a pretty good position, he said. If one goes bad, its not really a big deal, youll just sell it off, or foreclose, or whatever options are available. You might spend the time and work out something really attractive for the borrower, because youve got all those other notes working for you. But in a major financial crisis, its another matter. When theres a huge hit, and all of a sudden youve got 50% of your
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inventory becoming worthless, and youve got to figure out a way to create some liquidity, said Martinez. So youll start selling off your bad paper at fire sale prices. The need for that liquidity is fundamental, according to Martinez. If Im a big bank, the government requires me to freeze some of my good liquid assets to protect my bad debt, he said. That limits my lending power on the other side. Thats because a bank is allowed to loan as much as ten times its liquid assets; for every $100,000 in liquid assets, it can loan $1 million. Now, if I have a loan of $100,000 thats not performing, I have to freeze the equivalent of $1 million in lending, said Martinez. That really affects my business in a negative way. Now, he added, imagine if the bank can sell a non-performing loan thats worth on paper $100,000 to someone for $20,000. Suddenly I have $20,000 in liquid assets, and I can loan $200,000, he said. Theres a huge benefit to them to do this; the benefit to us is we can buy these notes for pennies on the dollar. Several other factors have come into play that make this a good time to get into notes, said Martinez. Right now, he said, most of the notes that are available for investment are ones that were taken on originally by larger banks and their time is running out in at least two ways. Those big banks have until the end of this year to relinquish as much of the bad debt as they can, and still receive up
to an 80% reimbursement for their loss, said Martinez. So thats a huge motivating factor for the banks to get these off their books. Also, after the TARP money runs out at the end of this year, the government is putting increasingly complicated lending regulations in place for the following year. So the banks want to put themselves in as much of a liquid position as possible right now, to continue to be able to borrow from the government at a very low rate while there arent as many regulatory restrictions, said Martinez. Finally, banks are simply tired of the resources they expend keeping up with non-performing notes. The maintenance of a bad note costs them so much more than that of a good performing note, probably 10-15 times more, said Martinez. They really dont want to deal with them. You have to think at their scale; while were looking at 10 or 100 of these, theyre dealing with thousands. It makes more sense to sell it off. Martinez said the note market is probably going to remain strong for several years, particularly due to the volume of inventory. Theres hundreds of thousands of delinquent notes, said Martinez. Its going to be impossible to move them overnight. Were probably looking at a year or twos worth of inventory lagging behind, even if the market changes dramatically. And, he said, no one he talks to thinks thats less than 3-5 years away. For more information or to receive a free informational DVD on the note market, visit: www.assetventuresllc.com
UNCONVENTIONAL WEALTH:
bring in 7-8 older repo homes to increase occupancy and sell them on a lease-to-own program. Then raise the lot rents by $10-$25/month (depending on the market). After 18 months when you have increased the annual lot rent income by $30,000, sell the park for $450,000, which would be a 10 cap for a new buyer (dont be greedy on the sale leave a nice return for the buyer). After paying the seller back and your investors a nice profit and returning their principal, you should have at least $125,000 in your pocket.
Mike has the unique ability to provide Americans with a realistic, no B.S. view of the nancial world today one that comes from his years of street-wise investment success in three different businesses nancial planning, mid-sized apartment complexes, and mobile home communities that have made him a true Main $treet Millionaire. He has bought, rehabbed, and sold over $50 million worth of commercial multi-family (affordable apartment complexes and mobile home parks) involving 15 projects over the last ten years. He was a leader in the nancial planning business in the 1990s and early 2000s as he grew a nancial planning broker-dealer from $1.2 million in gross revenues to $40 million in six years and then sold it to a large national insurance company; he also managed over $100 million of client money in his own nancial planning practice before becoming completely disillusioned with Wall Street money machine. He is a 1990 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. Mikes basic investing premise has brought him success over the last decade and he foresees even more opportunities over the next 10 years. Unconventional Wealth gives readers insight into the skillz they need to become Main $treet Millionaires.
In this book, Mike Conlon will show you an unconventional path to prosperity in this very difcult economy by providing quality, ethical, and affordable services to Americas largest and fastest growing consumer group. In order to prosper on this path, you dont need a college degree, only the willingness to work hard and learn.
it. A quick example: A guy I bought a park from in Raleigh, NC at the end of 2009 had owned the park since 1979. He never went to college. He raised his family in the park and the cash flow allowed him to send three kids to college. After I purchased it, he netted out $3 million! I paved some of the roads, added some cosmetic repairs, and brought in 15 older repo homes to fill empty sites. I owned the park for two years and was able to net out $1 million in profit after I sold it in December of 2011.
Mike Conlon is a President/Owner of Affordable Communities Group, LLC, MIKE CONLON (www.acgmhc.com), which invests in distressed mobile home communities throughout the Southeast and the Midwest. He is also President/Owner of Carolina Turnkey Step Two of the plan is to get the original investors to reinvest their $100K along with your $125K and buy a Properties, LLC, which buys distressed single-family homes in the Raleigh and Charlotte markets. He has been a fulldistressed 50-space park. Use the exact same formula as Step One for the 18-month period. You should end of with time real estate investor for the last 10 years. He is based in Cary, NC. He is also an author, speaker, and educator on $250K in your pocket after that sale. real estate investing. His book, Unconventional Wealth: The New Main Street Millionaires, was released in August 2012. Step Three is to buy your 100-space park as notated in #2 above. This business is not rocket science. Anyone can do Mike Conlon can be reached at mike.conlon@acgmhc.com
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UNCONVENTIONAL WEALTH:
The New Main $treet Millionaires
MIKE CONLON
Mike Conlon, President/CEO MIke Conlon, aka Main Street Millionaire, has the unique ability to provide a realistic, no b.s. view of the investment world today as he is highly educated but also has 15 years+ of streetwise investment success that has made him a multi-millionaire. Mike tailors his business strategy around providing outstanding customer service and quality, affordable products to the fastest growing consumer segment in the U.S., to the working poor.
Log on to any websites below to get more information on investing in Mobile Home Communities and to score a free copy of Mikes new book: Unconventional Wealth Creating the New Mainstreet Millionaires
Entrepreneurial Life
How to Control Your time & money with senseis secrets to an
by Stephanie Mojica ensei Gilliland is a husband, father, real estate investor and entrepreneur. He has little time to spare. He runs businesses that are automated to pump out large sums of cash every day. Sensei is the founder and CEO for Black Belt Investors, a real estate company that offers investments, education and consulting. Sensei also owns a chain of martial arts schools, a marketing company and an real estate auction bid service focused in Phoenix, Arizona. Multiple Streams of Income is the most preached about rule for real estate investors, but with that systems must be placed. How can we as investors automate our real estate investing business or agency with other endeavors that we may have? Read on to find out...
Q: At what point did you realize that your real estate business was going to take off and decide to devote yourself to building a second career? A: Thats funny you ask... I knew this business was for me right after I took my first real estate workshop. I had created such a passion for flipping houses that failure was not an option for me, especially after I had to break the news to my bride that I just spent $30,000 on a package of real estate seminars. You men reading this article know what Im talking about. After my first 5 years of flipping houses across the nation and continuing my education, I added other cash generating real estate niches such as wholesaling, purchase options and rentals. I had such a momentum that many people started
Question: When you first started your martial arts business, were you expecting that it would become a full-time business and a growing company? Answer: At first, I started it with the idea that it would become an income stream, until I figured out what I wanted to do as a career. During college I realized that I was making just as much money working my part-time martial arts business as the professors who worked full-time careers. I received my associates degree and quickly exited college so I could focus my attention on building my business. Q: At what point did you venture into real estate? A: I got started in the real estate because I was looking for a business that would give me a passive income stream. First my eyes were set on coin-op car washes. I understood the car wash business model, but what I didnt understand was how to lease or buy land. Now, I had to learn the real estate business. Heres what I learned: He who controls the real estate, controls the business. That was a big lesson for me, so I quickly dove into the real estate investing world as I wanted that control. Q: Was there a particular real estate niche that attracted you and why? A: Yes, I was attracted to fixing and flipping houses because I wanted big paydays like I read in the books.
...my definition of wealth is having income streams to control my time without compromising my lifestyle.
to inquire about my business and that is when I decided to expand my business to consulting, education, private money lending and asset management. Q: I see that Black Belt Investors has many spokes to its hub. Would you mind telling us which spoke is the most dominate income stream and which spoke captures your passion? A: Oh thats easy. Buying and selling real estate is my cash machine, rentals is my wealth builder and my passion belongs to educating. Q: Youve boot strapped your business, and as I understand, you run a lean and mean machine. What do you do yourself, what does your staff do, and what do you outsource? A: Thats a fully loaded question, but let me put it in simple form. I personally like to focus on the creative side of business. I enjoy to tweaking, testing and enhancing my products and services to stay on the cutting edge. I also love to build new businesses that compliments one of my other businesses. I have a powerful staff that I can rely on that enjoys their work. Some of my staff works in the office, some are out in the field and many are set up to work through a virtual office. They relieve me of many duties that would normally tie me down just to maintain the business. I know that if I want to
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grow, then I must be relieved of the work that a $10 an hour employee can handle as time is money and my time is much more valuable than to do the tasks of a $10 an hour job. I will mention a few of the duties that I outsource that most businesses can relate too, such as database managers, internet marketing, social media managing, services and product sales team and transactions coordinators. Q: I know that you own multiple companies. How do you manage and control these businesses? A: I think it is very important to focus on your strengths and hire your weakness. If you are going to own one or many businesses, then you need to learn how to develop systems that can be operated by employees. Lets take McDonalds for an example... here you have a fast food chain that will pull in billions in revenue each and every year operated by minimum wage workers. How can that be? It works because of the powerful business branding and the systems that are in place. By having great branding and systems, it allows the owner to oversee the business and not be in the business, which ultimately allows more time for the owner to focus on business building. Q: Youre a strong advocate of personal branding. Could you define what that means to you? A: I had no concept what branding meant until about eight years ago. Branding to me is a name that stands for something in prospects minds. Google stands for search. Home Depot stands for home improvement. Redbox stands for video rentals. Developing a great brand and you will have what I call positive magnet marketing. Prospects will be drawn to you and your business. Dont brand yourself properly and you will have negative magnet marketing, which means you will push your marketing to find prospects. Q: How do you define entrepreneurship? A: I define entrepreneurship as the passionate pursuit of opportunity. Entrepreneurship is not for the weak. One must work harder, faster and smarter than the competition. Q: How do you define wealth? A: The definition of wealth is very personal to each individual, however, my definition of wealth is having income streams to control my time without compromising my lifestyle. Q: What is next for Black Belt Investors? A: I am continuing my work to grow the company and to take advantage of the current market. I am excited to have a few irons in the fire that will increase the value of the company and keep me challenged. I am always working to build the brand, better our service and products and enjoy myself along the journey. Black Belt Investors is a real estate company that offers properties, education and consulting. To learn more about Sensei and Black Belt Investors or to sign up for his free newsletter, visit: www.BlackBeltInvestors.com or call 951-280-1900
ts not much of a secret that the U.S. government is in the midst of big financial problems.
The annual structural government deficit is well in excess of $1 trillion dollars, with no end in sight. In addition to this, there are a growing number of people who are hurtling toward retirement with insufficient assets to sustain themselves during their retirement years. Reports of people making early withdrawals from their retirement accounts have caused some to proclaim the 401(k) to be a failure, and have expressed a desire to replace the current 401(k) individual retirement accounts with a universal government sponsored pension. Ordinarily, such a proposal would be dismissed as the pointless rants of folks from the far-left fringe. However, on October 7, 2010 Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) held a recess hearing where he heard testimony from people advocating for a Guaranteed Retirement Account (GRA). The fundamental feature of a GRA system is that the government would seize 401(k) accounts, set up an additional 5% payroll tax and distribute a fair pension to everybody. The line of reasoning that is used to advance the
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proposal among its proponents is that it replaces market based retirement plans with a government pension that is more stable. Of course, this is all a thinly veiled cover for confiscating multiple trillions of dollars in private wealth to bail out bankrupt government programs and union pension plans. However, it provides a very important lesson to the people who have invested their time and effort into building a financial nest egg to fund their retirement. This message is that the government has already prepared proposals to come after large amounts
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of private wealth. When the government-entitlement state eventually comes to the point of collapse, the political establishment will become desperate. This creates a tremendous degree of risk for investors, since they may end up with a situation where their hard work to save and invest is literally stolen by the government and invested into government treasuries that pay a rate of interest below the rate of inflation. In this way, there is a persistent risk that the once vaunted 401(k) could become a financial sink hole that
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...now is a prime opportunity to begin diversifying your investing activities into areas that are not concentrated in highly visible pools of capital.
devastates many cal landscape to tion works in the favor of income propmillions of middle Action Item: Diversify your determine when erty investors is because laws regarding class investors just or if such actions the landlord-renter relationship are all investments into fragmented as they are nearing will be required. local. This means that a single sweepthe age where they vehicles such as income properties Furthermore, now ing change from Washington D.C. is expected to retire. that are not concentrated in large, is a prime opunlikely to completely change the landIt is important for portunity to begin scape of the income property market for highly visible financial institutions. investors to underdiversifying your the entire country. stand the true naThis will help you defend against investing activiture and gravity of the risk of the government confisties into areas that Thus, the 401(k) carries an increasthe situation. The are not concening risk of becoming a sink hole for cating retirement accounts to fund US government trated in highly investors. The government is running does not currently a universal pension system. visible pools of out of time before the full extent of their have the power capital. generational financial irresponsibility is to confiscate your brought to bear. The risk is not yet imretirement assets, One highly efminent, but is still very real. Intelligent but that power fective vehicle for investors should understand that the could be granted by congress. From achieving this goal is income property. current world is one where the rules that there, the bill would need to be signed Since rental real estate is highly fragwere originally created to help people by the President, and would almost cermented, it will be much more difficult secure a happy, prosperous retirement tainly trigger a major court challenge. and costly to confiscate than 401(k) and are poised to be pulled out from under However, the proposals have already IRA assets. In this way, fragmentation us at the most inopportune time posbeen advanced, and it seems to be only serves as a defensive mechanism for sible. a matter of time before somebody in investors. Another way that fragmentaWashington DC becomes desperate enough to come after the private wealth of the millions who have invested their earnings into a 401(k) plan. Jason Hartman has been involved in several thousand real estate transactions and This demonstrates two fundamenhas owned income properties in 11 states tal truths. The first is that desperate governments will resort to highly risky and 17 cities. His company, Platinum and unethical measures to avoid the Properties Investor Network, Inc. helps consequences of their collective fiscal people achieve The American Dream of irresponsibility. The second is that our financial resources may be at risk if financial freedom by purchasing income they are concentrated in a place such as property in prudent markets nationwide. a 401(k) where they are easily visible Jasons Complete Solution for Real by government agencies. Estate Investors is a comprehensive Now is not the time to incur a system providing real estate investors penalty and withdraw all of your funds with education, research, resources and from the 401(k) or IRA plan that you have established for your retirement technology to deal with all areas of their assets. However, it is most certainly a income property investment needs. time to pay diligent attention to what is Contact Jason at www.JasonHartman.com or 714-820-4200. happening in the financial and politi-
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REIA
California investors begin Coast to Coast REIA clubs to encourage deal participation among members.
ts common knowledge that tremendous money-making opportunities exist by investing in real estate. But questions still loom large: Where are the best deals? Is my local community ripe for investments or do neighboring cities offer better opportunities? Whats the best way to determine pricing trends in any given community? And this is only the beginning: The deeper you go into the real estate investing environment, the greater the number of questions. The ever-changing market and uncertainty can be difficult even for real estate veterans to deal with. It is for this reason that many savvy investors with years of experience under their belt are increasingly turning back to their local clubs for guidance. These groups are known as REIAs (Real Estate Investor Associations). Traditionally, many have been under the National REIA umbrella, a non-profit trade organization with local chapters nationwide. However, a recent surge in industry activity has skyrocketed the number of independent associations and networking groups. The new Coast to Coast REIA (commonly known online as C2C REIA) is one such organization. What makes this California-based investment club organization different? Our main focus is not selling education, but encouraging real estate deals to be done within the groups membership, explains Pete Asmus, CEO and co-founder. The organization is comprised nationally of localized
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C2C
I
by Isaac Newkirk
Pete Asmus (left) and Ivan Oberon, founders of Coast to Coast REIA Photographs by Shannon Asmus
groups of like-minded individuals. They meet regularly to share ideas, discuss market changes, learn new concepts and trade industry referrals, including who to stay away from in a designated market. Most importantly, the main objective is to share equity opportunities within the group. Pete got into the real estate business seven years ago and became quite skilled at flipping houses, so much so that he was constantly being asked to conduct seminars about the process. It didnt take him long to realize that, not only did he have quite a knack for the seminar process, it was something that he also enjoyed. Last year Pete, and his longtime friend and business associate Ivan Oberon, founded Coast to Coast REIA. Ivan handled the real estate side of the business and Pete was in charge of networking responsibilities. Today, they have over 1,100 members and 32 chapters in many states, such as Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C. It may seem like instant success, but the duo have been building connections in the real estate industry circuit for nearly a decade, and they were able to tap into an existing database of thousands. Coast to Coast REIA also merged with existing clubs already in place in some markets. Pete believes that investing in the success of club members creates a stronger organization. The seminar companies want to make money from just training. He adds: When all you do is care about the money coming in from training, then youre not going to care about the end result, which is their
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financial freedom. Pete says if he is going to help teach someone, inevitably, hes hoping his student will create wealth and desire to be a partner in future deals. Coast to Coast REIA was created to be a network of real estate partners. An organized group of business relations across the country, Ivan says. The core foundation of Coast to Coast REIA is the Regional Managing Partner (RMP), the individual that runs the clubs in the various markets. Part of what our organization is about is bringing people together who are great at something different than what you are, Ivan confides. The organizations mantra is connecting people face to face from coast to coast. The ultimate goal of a Coast to Coast REIA meeting is to connect the right market with the right type of investor. The one thing you need as an investor is a team. Thats what we provide, Ivan says, adding Im all about trying to get you into a network to realize thats where the real opportunities come from. While education is great, Pete and Ivan say that what makes Harvard such a fantastic school is not the professors, but the
alumni. When it comes to investing in real estate, you dont have to know everything, says Pete. You just have to be connected to people who do. Then, you can accomplish anything.
The organizations mantra is connecting people face to face from coast to coast. The ultimate goal of a Coast to Coast meeting is to connect the right market with the right type of investor.
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f you stick around the real estate investing community long enough, youre bound to hear the term secured investment at some point. The word security is thrown around all over the place with the intent of meaning a lot of different things. Unfortunately, because it means so many different things to so many different people, its often used incorrectly. And since theres no uniformity in the way that the word is used it logically follows that there is a general confusion or a lack of understanding of what the word is supposed to mean in the context of real estate investing. Who really cares though, right? So what if its used incorrectly? How does that affect anybody? The truth of the matter is that its extremely important. For instance, if you were asked whether or not your investment is secured, could you answer confidently? Or if you were asked what is your investment secured by? would you confidently know what to say? Knowing the difference between secured and unsecured can be the difference between profits and losses. The economic implications can have a drastic effect on your pocketbook and the way that you decide what investments are appropriate for your portfolio. Here are a few ways to tell whether an investment is secured or not. Your investment is probably unsecured if: The value of the investment fluctuates with the market.
Some examples of secured investments include: bonds and debt instruments, trust deed investments, real estate tax liens, or secured promissory notes and mortgages. Secured Investments are not necessarily better than nonsecured investments, and vice-versa. Each has their own set of pros and cons and each is more appropriate given certain market conditions and expectations. So again we have to ask the question, why do we care? To answer simply different types of investments are better suited for different types of investors depending on their goals and risk tolerances, and different types of investments will vary significantly in their expected yields. There are plenty of different types of real estate investing strategies out there, and some will be suited for certain investors and others will be suited for the rest. What works today may not work next year, and so on and so forth. As an example of what were talking about, consider the common case of Real Estate Investor A that has a little money in their pocket and is trying to decide what to do with it. In most cases, this investor will go out and buy a piece of investment real estate. They may even utilize a loan to purchase the real estate, hoping to increase their return on equity. At the same time, Real Estate Investor B is in the marketplace with some money and is trying to decide what to do with it. Rather than purchase a piece of investment real estate, Investor B decides to become a secured lender and use their cash to make a loan to another real estate investor.
Continued on pg. 47
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Director of Business Development (Northern California) 9245 Laguna Springs Dr. #200 Elk Grove, CA. 95758 Phone: (916) 509-7150 Direct: (916) 708-0235 Fax: (916) 405-4000 Email: lamarrbaxter@accuplan.net Website: http://www.accuplan.net/norcal/index.htm
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ick Vertucci knows the real estate market has a bit of an image problem in the media. Right now, when I tell people Im a real estate investor, they generally look at me with a face that says Are you doing OK? he laughed. But between the radio shows, the real estate seminars, and the peren-
by Robb Magley
when we had the run-up to the bubble, said Vertucci. But the fact of the matter is, all the savvy investors were selling their product when everyone else was buying. Those people were speculating, and they were mostly following the herd. Vertucci said the challenge right now is explaining that right now is actually the time to buy. Weve never been in a better real estate market, he said, but most people dont recognize that, because they
Nick Vertucci
nially-active business hes built NV Companies into, Vertucci is doing better than OK. And he forgives his new clients for wondering. People thought that the best real estate market was five or six years ago, only understand appreciation. The model Vertucci and NV Companies have built their success upon doesnt count on an investment appreciating; rather, they advise investors to cashflow properties set them up with renters, and hold on through the up-and-down. That relies upon two things: getting a decent deal on the investment to begin with, and the ability to manage the property going forward. The first, according to Vertucci, has been a matter of paying close attention to markets. Until recently, NV Companies and its investors were focused almost exclusively on Las Vegas a city with an exceptionally high run-up in appreciation headed into the bubble, followed by a precipitous 60% drop in value. It had always been an appreciation market, said Vertucci.
You could never really cash flow there, because the prices were too high. But after the bubble, it got to a point where you could actually cash flow at an 8% to 10% cap rate in the good areas, and then just wait for appreciation. So a few years ago Vertucci and his investors went into Las Vegas in a big way. We told all our investors to get in and get good cash flow, and they did, he said. And now that market between the hedge funds going in there and buying, and all the investors, people from California you cant get product out there any more at a good price, it wont cash flow, the prices are too high. But everyone that has purchased there made at least 2030% on their money since last year. The key, according to Vertucci, was that they were paying attention. Probably about 8 months before the Vegas market just stopped, we saw the writing on the wall, said Vertucci. Then we saw Orlando shaping up with the same type of market, just about a year and a half behind Vegas. So we went to Orlando to build the infrastructure there and when the Vegas market puttered out, we were already up and running. That infrastructure is the other half of the business success, Vertucci explains. His company doesnt just find and sell property; they offer a rehab and management package Soup to nuts, he said that includes all the ingredients needed to make the investment pay off, leveraging the bulk buying power of the 50-70 properties they take on every month to bring down expenses and retain control. When my investor buys, they get a property thats already been rehabbed, that has a renter in it, and is managed by us, said Vertucci. I dont pass them on to third party management because thats where people get hurt a lot; they get all
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So Investor A takes a loan from Investor B and purchases a piece of investment real estate, utilizing 50% leverage and 50% cash down for example. To make the numbers simple, lets say that the purchase price of the property was $100,000. So, we have two investors that are both investing in real estate. In fact, both have an investment thats based on the exact same piece of real estate. They even put the exact same amount of cash into that piece of real estate. So then are their investments the same? Of course, we know that the answer is not at all. Investor B has made a secured investment by lending money to Investor A. Investor Bs downside risk is minimal because they have a loan that Investor A has promised to repay. The loan is secured by the property which is valued at twice the amount of the loan. Investor A is an unsecured investor. Investor A bears the full economic risk of the real estate market in this transaction and also bears the obligation of repaying Investor Bs principal plus an agreed upon amount of interest. In short, the amount of risk that Investor A is taking is much higher than that of Investor B. Suppose that the real estate market was to decline by 10% and that $100,000 property is now worth $90,000 and Investor A decides to sell. What are the economic implications? When the property is sold for $90,000 all secured invesNick Vertucci, Wins, pg. 46
their profit taken away by management companies over-billing. So I control the whole environment from start to finish, and then I manage these long-term for them. Vertucci said its not just a solid business model, but also a great way to instill confidence in an investor: His reputation rides along. I realized thats the only way I could get folks to buy these without the fear of being 3,000 miles away, he said. I had to account for everything I help them put on the right insurance, review their documents at the title company, help with putting the properties in their IRAs, help them form LLCs... everything you can think of for an investor to succeed, even one with no experience. By cash-flowing and not being dependent upon appreciation, Vertuccis investors can weather a lot of financial storms. If the market gets worse, people still have to live somewhere, and their first money goes to rent, said Vertucci. The worse the economy gets, the stronger your asset is. Now, when the market turns, and suddenly we have appreciation again, youre just going to get that cherry on top. You win if things go up or down. Holding that brickand-mortar asset is the safest investment you can make. For more information about Nick Vertucci, please visit: www.nvcompanies.com or contact: 800-328-6418.
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tors must be paid first. That means that Investor B will be due to receive their entire principal balance plus any interest and fees that theyre owed. In other words, Investor Bs investment wasnt at all affected by the market decline. They received every penny that they expected to. Investor A on the other hand is unsecured. They own the property and therefore bear the full risk of the investment. Since Investor B has already been repaid their $50,000 plus interest and fees, that only leaves $40,000 or less for Investor A (after all costs). Investor A has lost, at a minimum, about 20% of their investment from only a 10% market decline. Now consider the alternative: Say that the property is sold for $110,000 instead of $90,000. Investor Bs economics dont change. They receive their principal plus interest and fees at closing. Investor As economics change drastically, however. Instead of a 20%+ loss they now have almost a 20% gain (less interest, fees and costs that were paid). Investor A makes a great turnaround and receives the benefit of the upside of the investment while Investor Bs economics didnt change. So heres the reason behind this simple analysis as stated previously in this article: To become a sophisticated investor, at the very least, you must be able to analyze risk and use that information to distinguish between a good deal and a bad deal. In our scenario, Investor B took far less risk than Investor A. An investor who takes less risk should expect lower returns. An investor who takes more risk should only do so if they believe that they can achieve much higher returns. So if you take one thing from this article, please take this: there are a number of different ways to invest. There are even a number of different ways to invest in real estate. Some carry more risk than others. Some carry much more risk than others, especially in certain market conditions. Get to know more than one strategy so that one day when youre considering purchasing a piece of real estate (unsecured) and you expect it to yield a 12% annualized return youll know that you could have achieved the same while reducing your risk with a secured investment. If trust deed investing or secured loans are producing similar returns then youll know why you should think twice about buying that property. For more information, contact Chris Gleason, managing director of MMG Capital LLC: 310-295-1121 (ext. 301).
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Investor Beware!
ne of the most important decisions a real estate investor can make is choosing which real estate market(s) to purchase investment properties. All too often I see investors focus on short-term high cash flow without considering the long-term outlook or high risk factors. Lets start out by listing a few of the main criteria for buying safe real estate investments that generate passive cash flow month after month after month. Inventory of homes for sale (current inventory, average days on market, upcoming foreclosures,...) Pro-landlord laws and regulations Good school systems and a focus on universities and colleges creating a skilled work force A strong and diverse economy with multiple employment sectors, including high tech, finance and health care Low crime Housing affordability Vacancy rates Good rent ratios Now, just because you can buy an inexpensive property in a market with good rent ratios doesnt guarantee high cash flow. Many investors purchase in areas such as Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh with the expectation that the cash will be rolling in each month. Unfortunately their reality can be vastly different. With over 1,400 property transactions, I have personal experience investing in each and every one of these cities and a few battle scars to prove it! Here is just one example of a scenario that can be devastating to a real estate investors cash flow. In many of these cities a Certificate of Occupancy (read:
markets
tax) is required. A COO is where a city or county official inspects your property and hands you a list of repairs that must be completed before they return. Usually there is a fee for each inspection, plus there is a fee for the COO. Unfortunately, these officials are not business people and the improvements requested can outweigh the cost of the property. I had one house in Chicago built in the early 1900s that was called out for a full green initiative requiring new windows, doors, and insulation in the walls and ceiling. By the time I was done with the quotes, it would have cost me over $40,000 just to complete the requests. Ouch! This was certainly not practical for an investment property so the house was sold to a homeowner who didnt mind making that kind of an investment for their primary residence. I know that many people have lost substantial wealth in the down turn and feel like they need to catch up. In turn, they are taking risks by going into areas that claim to have unusually high cash flow on paper. The truth be told, year after year, any solid cash flow market will yield 6-12% cash on cash returns. Anything higher than that will usually turn out much lower after you take into account vacancy, repairs, regulation and taxes. Bottom line, when you invest to catch up, invest in the markets that will be strong in 5 to 10 years from now and where
You wont lose money in real estate as long as you arent forced to sell.
the monthly cash flow allows you to keep the property. One of my favorite sayings is You wont lose money in real estate as long as you arent forced to sell. So, as long as the monthly cash flow covers the cost of holding the property (and a little more!) and you are in the right market with the right type of home, you are in the right spot to grow your wealth and catch up. Taking the time to research and make smart decisions before you purchase can save you from costly and stressful situations after you purchase. For more information on real estate market selection, download a free copy of my new Real Estate Investor Checklist on my website. Take Care,
Lori Greymont
P.S. Our team of experienced real estate professionals can help you create a customized investment plan and find properties in the best rental markets in the country that fit your plan. To reach Summit Assets Group, please call: 408-782-9162 or visit: www.SummitAssetsGroup.com
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changed their tune dramatically over the last couple of years. Theres obviously a method, even an art to picking up property for fifty cents on the dollar; after a few years of doing it successfully, Carson said it only made sense to start teaching. The Note Buying for Dummies workshop was launched in 2008, and Carson has taught hundreds since, building a network of trained investors all across the country. I teach people who to call, what to say, how to evaluate the notes from different banks, different pools, said Carson. I teach them how to cherrypick, how to market the deals they find, how to find buyers for them. Carson said he also gives ideas on how to raise private capital, to leverage what youve got to take advantage of the deals you find. Note buying has been around for years, Carson said; banks have been selling pools of mortgages to other banks and other entities for decades. But a lot of his students had always thought you had to have $5 to $10 million to even get in the game. And sure, to buy from Bank of America, Chase, or Wells Fargo, yeah, you do, said Carson. But besides those big banks, theres a whole lot of other banks that will sell you stuff at a smaller level. Theyre not trying to close a $20 million deal, theyre saying, Just buy something from us. Carson stressed his workshop is a hands-on four days. Its not a pitch festival, its a workshop, he said. I bring in real asset managers and hedge fund guys, and we get on the phone and make calls in front of everybody so they can see what to say, and how I do it. I give them scripts to start from, they get a nice 200-page manual of contracts and forms. I get online and show them how to find these phone numbers and email addresses for asset managers and mortgage bankers, and give them an idea of some of the resources that are out there. And if youre looking for an even more intensive learning environment, Carson offers 1-to-1 coaching. This is for someone whos willing to work, because it does take work, said Carson. Youve got to make the calls, youve got to follow up. Its not something that will just happen overnight. But, for someone whos motivated and ready to put in the time and effort, Carson said it again: Its a great time to be in the note business. Theres a lot of inventory still sitting out there, plus we have a huge commercial foreclosure wave thats still going to hit us, said Carson. You can make a ton of money on this by working diligently, and when it starts going, its really a lot of fun, too. For additional information about Scott Carson and Inverse Investments visit: www.WeCloseNotes.com
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by Stephanie B. Mojica
ith significant appreciation since 2010, Phoenix remains one of the strongest real estate markets in the country thanks to an influx of newcomers moving in from around the country in lure of Daniel Butterfield warmer climates and stronger job markets. To get the latest pulse on Phoenix real estate, we interviewed Daniel Butterfield, owner of IPX (Investment Property Experts). He has been investing locally for fifteen years and gave us great insight on this important market. Question: Tell us some highlights about the market. What has changed since last year? Answer: The market has changed significantly. Since the market in Phoenix has increased 44% (Monthly median sales price in Maricopa county per the Cromford Report) and inventory levels are at an all-time low, many of our purchases are coming from pre-foreclosures with equity opposed to short sales or lender-owned property. In addition, there has been a huge increase in traditional sales. Q: What type of opportunities are you seeing now? A: We are in a sellers market, however we are still able to find great cash flow investment property, as long as we buy properties in distress in high demand areas and do the remodel ourselves. This is precisely the value we are able to offer our investor clients. Q: What is the best part of being an investor in your area? A: Cash flow real estate still exists and appreciation is constantly growing. For a very modest investment you can purchase an investment property, have your tenant pay-off your investment property, obtain a great cash-on-cash return, qualify for numerous tax write-offs, sell your property for a profit all while hedging against inflation and increased taxes. Q: Currently, how is the rental market doing? A: The rental market is solid and consistent. It is not growing but definitely not decreasing. We are starting to see more renters buy properties, which is good for investors as this creates higher demand and appreciation for starter home investment properties. Q: When did you start your investment career and how? A: I started investing in real estate 15 years ago, my objective
was to obtain tax write-offs to reduce my W-2 taxable income from my day job as a consultant for Andresen Consulting (Accenture). Since then I made substantial money in real estate and turned my real estate investing activities into my full-time job with my focus being helping other investors obtain the same goals I have personally created using my existing infrastructure of real estate professionals and service providers.
Q: What makes your company unique in the marketplace? A: Our company is the only company that offers turn-key real estate investment services to investors, which allows them to purchase renovated and occupied properties that cash flow. In addition, we also help investors roll over their retirement accounts, obtain conventional financing as well as lease and manage their investment properties. Finally we are able to help our clients also sell their investment properties when the time is right so they can capitalize on the appreciation in the market place, then re-invest their money again if they want. We also offer alternatives to traditional real estate investing, such as Deed of Trust Investing where you can earn a constant 12% annual return on your money while invested in a Deed of Trust.
Q: Tell us why investors should investigate your market? A: The Phoenix Metro market has the perfect balance when it comes to an attractive real estate investment: Cash flow along with an appreciating marketplace. Phoenix has been ranked in the top 20 cities across the nation for many months and will continue to be one of the best places to invest for a minimum of two more years due our economic growth. Q: Can you give our readers some sound advice that can help them in their investment careers? A: Work with professionals who have proven track record. Dont try to do it all yourself in this marketplace. Watch out for new investment groups and agents who lack the investment experience to help you achieve your investment goals. To schedule a complimentary investment consultation with IPX, visit: www.ipxcompanies.com or call 602-254-6244.
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Real Estate Brokerage Renovation Company Mortgage Bank Property Management Marketing & Technology
tools
any people (especially some attorneys) do not believe there are any benefits to using a Land Trust to hold title to your real estate investments. After 44 years of investing in Single Family Homes (and using Land Trusts for 30 of those years) I have found that the practical (and often unforeseen) benefits to using a Land Trust are not always obvious. Using a Land Trust to hold title to your investments is like using a gun to protect yourself. Your adversary must ask, Is the gun loaded? If the gun is not loaded there
as well as a majority before any directive can be issued to the Trustee. For example, you might appoint seven Directors who would only issue directives arrived at in formal meetings of at least 5 of them, with a three-fifths majority required to take any action. This would obviously take a lot of cooperative people to construct and might not be worth the trouble unless a lot of money is involved. One of the advantages of using a Board of Directors is that you could place younger inexperienced heirs on the Board and provide Land Trust training via the Board meetings. Eventually the heirs would graduate to understanding the formalities of Land Trust administration and begin
One of the advantages of using a Board of Directors is that you could place younger inexperienced heirs on the Board and provide Land Trust training via the Board meetings.
may or may not be much protection. But, if the gun IS loaded does your adversary really want to take you on? A smart adversary will move on to the next target. Case in point: Here is an example of how to put bullets in your Land Trusts. In my Land Trust seminars and home study courses, I talk a lot about the many benefits to creatively using the Power of Direction (POD) in a Land Trust. This article will address some specific advantages of the POD and how you might use it for privacy and asset protection benefits. The Power of Direction is the steel hand inside the velvet glove. The Director of your Land Trust (which might be you as the beneficiary or someone else who is not the beneficiary) holds all power over the Trustee. Remember, unlike many other types of trusts, the Land Trustee cannot act without specific direction (in writing) from the person or entity that holds the POD. Typically, when a Land Trust is formed the Beneficiary also holds the POD, but this is not mandatory. The POD can be designated to the Beneficiary at the inception of the trust or assigned to another (person, corporation, partnership or another trust) immediately or subsequently to forming the trust agreement. There are many strategies that you can employ when setting up your Land Trust and designating a Director. If you do not trust any one person to hold the POD, you can set up a Board of Directors and mandate what constitutes a quorum
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forming their own Land Trusts for privacy and asset protection. Oftentimes a Land Trust has multiple Beneficiaries and to designate just one to hold the POD is a matter of convenience and possibly business acumen. A Land Trust will operate much more efficiently if only one person holds the power over the Trustee (especially if that person has more business and life experience than the other beneficiaries). Occasionally, Land Trusts are established to hold income producing real estate to provide support for minor children or mentally handicap adults. In this event, the minor or incapable adult would serve as beneficiary (receiving all the proceeds and avails from the trust property) and the parent or benefactor would serve as Director making all critical decisions over the trust assets. The POD is a Property Right and as such is considered personal property. This Property Right can be assigned away from the beneficiary temporarily, permanently or conditionally. For example, if the Beneficiary currently holds the POD s/he could assign this right to another party for one day, for the life of the Trust or until Bakersfield, California receives 10 inches of rain in a twenty-four hour period. Conditional rights like this can be fun to create and a night-mare for your adversaries to penetrate. It would be prudent at this point to mention that anytime the beneficiary or holder of the POD is changed, the Trustee must be notified in writing. It also is important to always protect the personal liability of your Trustee and this can be done by written notification (to the Trustee) and acceptance (by the Trustee) of
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any and all changes to the Trust Agreement. With partnerships and corporations or other trusts as single or joint beneficiaries, the POD can be assigned to a specific individual (in each) acting as a representative of the organization, or by the organization itself upon proper resolution of the individual partners or Board of Directors. Or, the whole problem might be resolved with a Beneficiary Agreement. A Beneficiary Agreement (BA) keeps multiple beneficiaries from suing each other over the POD of a trust. The BA would set forth rules for apportioning the POD among them, provide for resolution of problems and for the broad policy pertaining to administration of the trust by the Trustee. Then the only Directives would be as needed exceptions rather than having every decision require a vote. It is VERY important to note that when the Beneficial Interest of a Land Trust is transferred, it has the effect of cancelling any previous assignment of the POD (unless the assignment was irrevocable) and it then belongs to the assignee. Because this POD is not based on any document other than the Trust Agreement, which is not made public or placed into the public records, it is an easy thing for lawyers and courts to overlook. By adroitly controlling the POD through contingent transfers, assignments and use of other Irrevocable Trusts (as holders of the POD) unique asset protection benefits can be obtained without public knowledge for the Primary Land Trust. For example, by designating the POD to an Irrevocable Trust any legal attack on the Primary Land Trust could trigger a contingent transfer of beneficial shares to another trust with another Trustee in another jurisdiction with another POD in another Irrevocable Trust. Further asset protection benefits can be obtained via the POD by using non-citizens as co-directors. If a US court ordered the citizen co-director to make a disposition of the trust property (which would be against the best interests of the beneficiary), the foreign non-citizen director could refuse to cooperate and no legal directive would have effect. As you can see, the sky is the limit when it comes to creative uses of the Power of Direction over a Land Trust. And, the POD is just one of the many parts of a Land Trust that will allow you to be creative in your structuring of asset protecting concepts. It is important to point out that I teach these techniques to honest law abiding real estate investors to protect themselves against contingency fee lawyers and their clients (and others who view real estate investors as easy targets for a lawsuit). If you are serious about protecting your assets, you need to learn how to form your own land trusts for privacy and asset protection now before you lose your lifes saving to the unscrupulous people in our society. For more Land Trust knowledge, please go to: www. realestateforprofit.com or call me, Mr. Land Trust, at 866696-7347. If you would like a FREE copy of my booklet, 50 Reasons to Use a Land Trust send me an email at: randy@mrlandtrust.net
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ithout a doubt, investors need quality attorneys that are available to answer unlimited questions on any subject matter, i.e., real estate questions, taxation, interpretations of laws and usury rates, just to name a few. If you have never needed legal representation for your investing business or for yourself, believe me it is just a matter of time. Buying property in this day and age can most certainly be a liability in every sense of the word. The word Attorney puts a feeling of uncertainty and fear into our very being. Not many of us like to call an attorney for advise or help of any sort, as we know up front, the charges we incur can be of an extremely large amount. This puts many of us in a difficult situation of whether we should spend the money for attorney fees or take the risk of not having council, by doing without the cost or expense, and unfortunately, without the professional assistance that we might need or require. Many of you have heard of Legal
Shield but really know very little about how it can help you in your business. Legal Shield offers a plan that is called The Home Based Business Rider in the United States and Canada. This Rider attaches to the Expanded Family Plan and in combination enables the investor and his family to have significant benefits, such as: Unlimited questions answered for business or personal matters. Three letters drafted per month on behalf of your business. Unlimited calls or letters made for you and your family, one per subject matter. Plus, up to three initial debt collection letters written per month on your behalf for your business. You can have three contracts or documents up to fifteen pages in length, per month, reviewed by your provider law firm. Also included with your Business Rider is unlimited small business consulting service through www.GoSmallBiz. com. Included in your coverage with the Expanded Family Plan is pre-paid trial protection that is included as part of your membership. This benefit grows each year you stay a member with Pre-Paid Legal
totaling up to 335 hours by your fifth year. It also includes automobile representation for you and your family no matter where you had the accident or the ticket occurred. You can have your Last Will and testament and your Living Will created as part of your family plan benefits. If you already have these important documents in place then they can be updated free of charge with your membership. As part of the business rider you will have consultation service for your small business. This service is provided free as part of your membership through www. gosmallbiz.com. For only $40.50 per month is there any question why an investor would not want or need this type of coverage and representation? I wish you all the best and Im confident that you will find a tremendous asset and tool for your business in Legal ShieldServices. To learn more about how Legal Shield can save you and your family money and grief, then feel free to call Christy-Ann Olivares at 415-902-8772. If you like what you are reading and you want to get signed up now then go to www.ChristyAnnOlivares. LegalShield.com
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SFBAREIA offers serious real estate discussions in a relaxed setting and social environment. Connect with us online to learn more about our monthly mixers. Held on the 1st Thursday of Every Month LOCATION - THE VINYL ROOM 221 Park Road, Burlingame, CA 9410 7 pm to 9 pm Visit us @ http://www.meetup.com/SFBAREIA
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6. A claim that occurred before I (or my entity) owned the property shouldnt affect MY insurance rate 7. All policies and coverages are created equally... 8. Self-insurance is too risky 9. I need builders risk coverage for a vacant or rehab project/deal/property 10. It is worth it to hire the handyman to do work on my rentals 11. If I use my personal vehicle to Tim Norris service my properties, my personal auto policy is sufficient... 12. Its enough to simply require renters insurance in my lease... 13. Cheaper is better The National Real Estate Insurance Group covers more than 10,000 locations each year. Norris says even experienced real estate gurus tend to believe myths such as cheaper is better as well as all policies and coverages are created equally. The attitude that insurance should be treated as a commodity can be blamed on the industry itself, who, as a knee-jerk reaction and effort to grow market share, seem to not really understand the needs of the public. Their contact us to save $XXX on your cov-
erage advertising campaigns National Real Estate reinforce the public attitude Insurance Group offers that insurance is a one size flexible services to real fits all industry and getting estate investors, such as: the lowest rate makes the No minimum premiums. most sense. Unfortunately, No required property inspecwhen you really need it, this tions. planning, or lack thereof, has Polices appropriate for differhurt more consumers than ent types of occupancy phases, it has ever helped, Norris including vacant, rental, or says. renovation. NREIGs highly trained Multiple properties can be employees work closely with covered under one policy. each client to develop unique A monthly, pay-as-you-go insurance plans. Some invesreporting form. tors do not need liability insurance. Other property owners need liability insurance to protect contractors as well as renters. Every real estate investor is different, there is no one size fits all in our industry, according to Norris. To learn more about the National Real Estate Insurance Group, call 888-741-8454 or visit www.nreinsurance.com.
RetireWithRealEstate.Biz
Missy McCall Hammonds, CEO
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strategy
Victor Menasce, author of The Great Canadian Take Over: How Savvy Canadians are Profiting Wildly from the Meltdown in the US Real estate shares his insights on locating your next JV partner.
Relationship Trust Results RELATIONSHIP If someone you didnt know approached you and said, I have a great deal. Theres an opportunity to make a lot of money. All I need is $2 million to make it happen. Would you commit $2 million of your own cash with someone you didnt know? I know that I wouldnt, and I believe that most people wouldnt do it either. I raise capital from people that Ive developed a relationship with. The relationship comes first. As part of building that relationship, I know what is important to my potential funding partner. All money has an agenda attached to it. If the agenda for the money and the goals for the project dont align, then dont take the money. It wont work in the long term. Let me give two examples. I have two funding partners with vastly different goals. 1. One of them wants to make high rates of return on a short-term basis. Theyd like to recycle their money into a different project every 90 to 120 days.
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Ive raised several hundred million dollars in my career. In my experience, raising capital is based on three fundamental elements...
2. I have another funding partner who believes that short-term projects can make high returns, but that money will sit on the sidelines between projects earning zero. He prefers to make a more modest return, but wants his money working for him in longer-term projects. His philosophy is that he will make more money and have lower risk by keeping his money at work. I cant say that one is right, and the other is wrong. Theyre just different. Im not going to try and convince a short-term investor to make a long-term investment, and Im not going to convince a long-term investor to do a short-term transaction. It wouldnt make any sense. Always take care to align the goals with the agenda associated with the money. I never ask a potential funding partner for money. Im never desperate for cash. Instead, I offer funding partners the opportunity to collaborate on a project. Thats a completely different posture. When partners work together to create value, great things happen. I invite my funding partners to become full partners in a project. Im never offering a passive investment for a share in the profits. This is required to be in compliance with securities laws. A promissory note with a fixed rate of return is perfectly legal and protects the funding partner. I will often secure the funding partners interest in the property by granting a mortgage on title, or a membership pledge in the event of default on the terms of the promissory note. TRUST Trust is at the foundation of raising capital. Trust has a lot of layers. Theres much more than Are you an honest person? The astute funding partner wants to know: Can I trust you to ask the right questions about a project? Can I trust you to put together a good plan? Can I trust you to execute that plan? Can I trust you to manage risk appropriately? Can I trust you to communicate openly & transparently? Can I trust you to communicate when there is a problem? Can I trust you with my money? Can I trust you to hire good people? If the answer is no to any of these questions, then the funding relationship will run into difficulty. If youre interested in learning more about this aspect, I recommend a great book by the son of Stephen Covey of 7 Habits of Highly Effective
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People fame. Stephen M.R. Covey wrote a wonderful book called The Speed of Trust. It is a powerful book that will change your perspective on all relationships, personal and business. RESULTS What results can you show? Show me a track record of success. Show me what youve done, mistakes and all. Past results can often be a predictor of future results, but not always. Will you invest with someone who has lost money on eight out of their last ten projects? I wouldnt! E-Bay uses a rating system and enables customers to choose their seller based on their rating. This rating documents their track record. Reputation in business is part of that all-important foundation of trust. Some new investors see a dilemma in what Im proposing. How can I raise capital without a track record? How can I develop a track record if I cant raise any capital? My response to that is simple. First of all, investors prefer to invest in businesses, not the self-employed. Business is a team sport. If youre not part of an investment business and youre just starting, then join an established business with a track record of success. Work in that business for a period of time. You can then legitimately borrow some of their credibility and track record. While you dont own that track record yourself, you can show that you have played a key role in successful projects. This is often enough to show a funding partner that you know what youre doing. Its important to be aware of securities laws and make sure that youre in compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules. The SEC has strict rules on securities and solicitation for investment. It is illegal to solicit for investment, unless very specific criteria have been met to market a security to the public, or to accredited investors. Canada has similar legislation that is administered by the provincial securities regulators such the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Alberta Securities Commission. The keys to developing funding partners for life are: relationship, trust and results. Always be mindful of these three factors. They are foundational to raising capital. Victor Menasce teaches workshops on raising capital across the United States He can be reached via email at: victor@greatcanadiantakeover.com
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He actually lists reasons not to. Now, the mortgage is not one of his reasons, but why would it be? Like I said...he is one of the wealthiest men on earth! The point is that a 30-year mortgage has become standard and not only standard for what companies want to show, it has become standard for what investors want to see. How Do Investment Companies Show their Numbers? Many companies, who provide investment opportunities, including mine, will show a mortgage projection based on the 30-year mortgage. Why? Because it is what the average, every day investor wants to see. It is how we have been programed. A simple search of the Internet will return article after article extolling the benefits on using a 30-year mortgage, especially for the positive effects it has on an investors cash flow. When I first started investing, I was coached to use the 30-year mortgage as a tool to boost my monthly income while allowing a renter to pay down my note. When I first started, I loved the idea of using a 30-year mortgage and putting 20% or less down as a GREAT tool to boost my cash flow. And it did. It made my cash flow go up and I had a certain level of comfort with that. The problem is, unless you have significant reserves in place, heavy leverage can
be paying more in interest payments than I was earning in cash flow. In the first 15 years it would be substantially more! Own Property Outright And Reap The Rewards I am a big proponent of owning real estate outright. I have used leverage sparingly over the last four years and only as a tool to acquire properties and not as a tool to own properties. I have put every property that I have used leverage to purchase on a quick pay off schedule. Many homeowners and real estate investors will tell you that there is a simple strategy that makes a 30-year mortgage a good investment. You simply place a 30-year mortgage on an investment property and pay it off like it is a 15-year mortgage. I am neither for nor against this strategy, I just do not use it myself for the reasons I will expand on below. I know as I write this that there will be some readers who will comment that yes, this is the precise strategy that they use and that they calculate each month exactly how much
It takes tremendous self-discipline to be able to make that strategy work and I have met many investors who claim this will be their strategy only to find that they like bragging about higher cash flow more than they like bragging about owning the property. The discipline it takes to carry out this strategy is often missing from many investors. Put Your Self In Position To Own Your Property Outright As I stated earlier, the better strategy and the one that I am seeing more investors come around to is using leverage to purchase properties, but not necessarily carrying that leverage for long periods of time. In fact, many investors are choosing to structure deals so that they are paying off the properties as soon as possible. Investors taking this route are usually financially secure and are not necessarily real estate investors. Often times, they recognize the need to diversify into real estate, but are often passive investors looking for the security and consistent return that real estate can give them. They see real estate as a secure investment and rental properties as a product that will have continued demand in the
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...I am seeing more investors come around to using leverage to purchase properties and cash to hold them long-term.
come back to bite you on investment properties. Another major point that I missed when I first started investing and has been taught to me over the years from some investors much smarter than me, was that for the first 25 years of my ownership of that property, I would money to pay to reduce the principle each month. They feel that they get a lower rate since a 15-year mortgage can cost as much as .25 to a .50 point more. To those readers that follow this strategy and actually follow through on this strategy, I will say that I believe you are in the minority and congratulations!
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Canadians are the #1 group of foreign investors in US Real Estate. They have cash. Are you qualified to work with Canadians? In less than 3 years, Victor amassed a portfolio spanning 3 time zones from his office in Ottawa Canada. Learn how its done at:www.greatcanadiantakeover.com Buy his best selling book at amazon.com
assets from investors in all 50 states. People have a lot of fear about the economy, but this is truly a great time to invest especially in real estate, Desich said. Without a doubt, the overall economy is difficult for everyone, and with the stock market not doing so well, it brings a sense of distrust or lack of confidence in clients. But this is a benefit to us because we offer customers to take control of their retirement investments and invest in a market they know and trust, rather than just stocks. While exact statistics vary according to the investor, even beginners regularly see double digit returns, according to Desich. Since Equity Trust does not charge transaction fees for normal activities such as purchasing or selling an asset, that helps its 130,000 clients see more revenues. While other brokerages typically charge $175 for the purchase, sale or re-registration of real estate interests; Equity Trust offers this service free of charge to its clients. We dont nickel and dime you, Desich said. While IRAs are the bread and butter of the firm, Equity Trust handles other types of retirement vehicles including 401(k). Every client regardless of portfolio size can take advantage of a wealth of informational resources ranging from personalized account managers to virtually instant access to one of 400 highly-trained selfdirected IRA specialists. Each Equity Trust account executive team member completes at least 160 hours of rigorous training. Training of employees and clients has been instrumental to the success of the company, which Desichs father Richard founded in 1974. I have always been extremely proud of my father and the company he started, Jeff Desich said. As more people get burned by the stock market, (self-directed IRAs) becomes a way for them to take control of their financial Randy Hughes Mr. Land Trust future.
40 Years Experience
Meet Randy Hughes in Person! Attend his next Land Trust Seminar For Information, Visit Online:
For a complimentary consultation with a self-directed IRA specialist, call Equity Trust at 888-382-4727 or visit www.trustetc.com
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foreseeable future. I have a good friend here in Tennessee who is a very successful executive and he has recently made moves to acquire property as he seeks to diversify. When he and I had lunch, he explained his very reasoning and his absolute distaste for taking on credit risks and leverage. This is a common theme among more and more affluent investors looking to diversify. They are using several different strategies to purchase the properties. 1. They are purchasing properties for cash and holding for a consistent rate of return recognizing that they can place minimal financing against the property in the future to assist with leveraging a larger portfolio. 2. They are purchasing property using a 15-year mortgage. They then take the cash flow each month and use it to reduce the principle. In some cases, this can reduce the term of the loan to less than eight years. 3. They are structuring the term of the loan to match the monthly note to the rental amount received. 4. They are purchasing using a mixed bag of options including cash purchases, refinancing existing properties at low leverage, bundling a portfolio to acquire leverage for new properties. Regardless of the scenario that investors are following, they are using leverage to increase their purchasing ability and using the cash flow produced from each investment property to reduce the principle. The idea behind affluent investors purchasing plans are to own the assets outright in the shortest amount of time. This enables them to keep as much of the return on the investment as possible. The Single Biggest Expense In A Leveraged Property They recognize that there is only one fixed expense that the investor can be in direct control of and that is interest. Management, taxes and insurance are all fixed costs, which the investor has little to no control over. Vacancy is a variable cost that even with the most prudent management is going to affect an investor at some point and there is nothing an investor can do to prevent. Routine maintenance and major replacement costs are also variable costs that, while an investor can prepare for and take steps to reduce, there is still little an investor can do to limit and nothing an investor can do to eliminate these costs. That leaves interest costs as the only major expense that an investor has control over as it relates to earnings potential on a property. Many investors that I am talking to today are choosing to do everything possible to reduce the over-all costs of interest including choosing higher interest rates to secure shorter terms
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and buying cash flow properties not for the cash flow, but to purchase more properties faster. I want to make sure everyone caught that last sentence. While in San Francisco, this was a big point I was trying to get across to the audience and based on their reaction, it made sense to them. How I Buy Properties As an investor, I believe in buying properties that make sense based on what I have experienced as an investor. I have bought junk properties. I have bought cheap properties. I have bought properties and done the minimal amount of work to get them rent ready. I have bought properties with creative financing such as ARM mortgages and even bought a couple with interest-only loans. Every one of those strategies was aimed at producing Higher Monthly Cash Flow. And every one of those strategies almost sunk me completely as an investor. Today, I buy properties where the fundamental economics make sense. I told the crowd in San Francisco that when
buying properties that produce a monthly positive cash flow, they should consider using that money to reduce principle. I cautioned them that if they were attracted to real estate and cash flow because they needed to pay bills, then, in my opinion, they really needed to be positive they were getting sound financial planning before buying. I told them that in my opinion, real estate purchased for buy and hold is a great way to build and maintain long-term wealth, but a lousy way to earn short-term money. I told them that real estate has the greatest pay-off when you own it outright and that as an investor, getting to that point should be your highest priority. Using leverage to build your long-term portfolio is a great tactic. Using leverage to build your short-term monthly cash flow is not. Am I off my rocker? Am I spot on? Let me know what you think Chris D. Clothier is a Partner at MemphisInvest.com and Premier Property Management Group. He can be reached at: chris@memphisinvest.com or 901-751-7191.
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In a sellers market, its best to be a seller. But what are the masses doing? You got it they are buying!Be careful about following the masses.
million in 2006, but didnt close because the market turned suddenly.Our group now has it tied up for just $16 million so there is obviously tremendous profit to be made. These kinds of deals are nearly impossible for individuals like you and me to pull off. But together, as a group of investors, we can tackle it. Its very exciting and keeps us ahead of the crowds. What about smaller deals like investing in rental property? At Real Wealth Network, we are bullish on cash flow and believe single family homes can make great rentals for long-term income. We do not like to speculate. Unfortunately, there are a lot of speculators out there who are making big bets and creating bubbles. Youve got to be careful right now. Low interest rates are allowing people to buy homes they normally couldnt afford.For example, if a borrower can afford a Kathy Fettke $1,000 monthly payment, they could afford a $200,000 home if their interest rate is 3.5%. At 6% interest, they could only afford a $150,000 home. Thats a 25% difference! Interest rates will go up but probably not for awhile. That means we could see home prices increase for a couple of years. And then what? We will see another bubble. Please dont be one of those people making crazy offers because you think prices will continue to rise. They wont. We have learned this lesson already, havent we? Please only make offers when it makes sense for the average person in the area to afford the average home at a 6% interest rate. The way you can do this is look up the average income of an area. Then triple that income and that should be the average price of a home. This truly is one of the greatest times to build wealth. Make sure you have access to the information you need to succeed. You can join the Real Wealth Network for free and enjoy weekly economic updates, blogs, podcasts andaccess to property managers and wholesale teams around the country, visit: www.RealWealthNetwork.com or call 888-RWNETWORK Kathy Fettke is the founder and CEO of Real Wealth Network The Real estate Investors Resource. Members have access to free education, resources, group projects and referrals to turn-key rental properties around the United States. Real Wealth Network has over 12,000 members, so the shear power of numbers allows the group to acquire properties at huge discounts. Membership is free. Kathy is also host of The Real Wealth Show on iTunes and is a regular guest expert on KSFOs Money Matters, ABC, CNBC, CBS Market Watch, Fox News and NPR.
We need about 1.5 million new homes every year to keep up...
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if its on the MLS, its way to late to secure a deal, but that is simply not true. Granted, more competition will exist at that point, but landing a diamond in the rough is still possible for savvy, all-cash buyers. Folks, I just found, rehabbed and closed three diamonds in the past 18 months alone. Plus, every time I look on the MLS, I find a deal. I know Im not alone on this one, in fact, a broker affiliate of ours in Alabama just sent us a Smoking Deal in Birmingham. It was an REO listed on their local MLS. Having been a licensed real estate agent for the past 10 years, it gives me a sense of pride to know that our industry is on the forefront of technology. So next time youre searching for that next Smoking Deal, be sure to log on to your local MLS instead of driving for dollars. Youll save gas money by simply clicking for deals online. by Linda Pliagas, pliagas@msn.com
One of the biggest myths is that you need money to make money in real estate, Seymour said. But you really dont. really dont. He and Souhleris occasionally hear people cite a down economy as an excuse to not move from dreaming of investment into becoming an actual investor. Whether its the mundane or the insane, were always looking for new ways to approach the way we do business, Seymour said. Some people call that seeing around the corner. We prefer, Knowing whats coming. Its been that dedication to creativity thats led to our business being the focus of Flipping Boston. When the show premiered in early 2012, it set a record as A&Es highest-rated Lifestyle series launch in history. With two successful seasons in their portfolios, Seymour and Souhleris are looking forward to doing even more episodes. It really is not that edited, Souhleris said. What you see is pretty much how we really act. Seymour, who professionally markets himself as a big picture thinker, has a tenacity adopted from his days as a paramedic and firefighter. A life-changing commitment to real estate investing is not a game, nor is it for the faint of heart. In this industry, success manifests itself in those who think big, believe big, and have the courage to act on both, he said. But despite his deep commitment to the real estate market, his main priority is his family. Ready to learn how to flip like the pros from Flipping Boston? Then visit www.citylighthomes.com for your free copy of The Flipping Formula. Alternatively, you can call 800-927-1883 to find out about consulting with Dave Seymour, Peter Souhleris, or one of their trained professional associates.
Realty411Guide.com
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reWEALTHmag.com
Wholesaling for Quick Cash 3 No Money - No Credit Needed 3 No License Required 3 Quickest Way to Get Paid Finding Motivated Buyers 3 Learn to Build a HUGE List 3 Cost Effective Marketing Tactics 3 Flip Ugly Houses to Cash Buyers Your Real Estate Business 3 Building Your Power Team 3 Daily Business Operations Finding the Deals 3 Know Your Target Zone 3 Leverage for BIG Discounts 3 Find Deals Others Cant
Keeping Your Funnel Full 3 Guerilla Marketing Strategies 3 Track Absentee Owners 3 Getting Sellers to Call Deal Analysis & Negotiations 3 Collecting Seller Intel 3 Research Quickly & Accurately Pre-Foreclosure Strategies 3 Profiting with Distressed Owners 3 Get the Deal Before the Agent 3 Understand State Flipping Laws Flipping without the Risks 3 Easy to Understand Contracts 3 Assignments and Double Closings 3 No Rehabbing Required
Sensei Gilliland
Real Estate Master
Call Us TODAY
(951) 280-1900
Web www.BlackBeltInvestors.com
www.BlackBeltInvestors.com
Tel 951.280.1900 Fax 951.280.1904